Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has given a big relief to farmers with the announcement that they do not need permission to extract clay from pits for private use.
A state government spokesperson said the decision had been taken in view of complaints of farmers regarding extortion and harassment by the local police and district administration.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath had recently expressed dissatisfaction over the harassment of farmers and also given strict instructions to officers to take action against those harassing farmers engaged in clay mining.
The farmers in various districts had lodged complaint with the state government after the chief minister had abolished the royalty on general soil mining to prevent harassment of farmers and illegal extortion for private use from their own fields, the spokesperson said.
The requirement of obtaining permission from the department of geology and mining had also been eliminated. The farmers should apply for soil mining through the Mine Mitra portal. The concerned departments, district administration and police department has been informed about the new order, he said.
Dr. Roshan Jacob, secretary of the department of geology and mining, said, “Following the directions of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, the royalty on general soil mining had been reduced to zero. Consequently, the requirement for farmers to obtain permission from the department for soil mining for their private use has also been eliminated.”
Changes have been made in the rules to ensure transparency in soil mining and the ‘Mine Mitra Portal’ has been launched for this purpose.
Farmers were now required to apply for soil mining up to a depth of 100 cubic metres solely through the Mine Mitra portal. After registration, mining and transportation were automatically authorized, she said.
The district administration and the police department had been informed about the directions. Despite the registration on the Mine Mitra Portal, local police had been refusing to acknowledge it and have been harassing farmers. In response, the secretary, department of geology and mining, issued explicit orders stating that the local police and Dial UP 112 police personnel must obtain permission from the district magistrate and be present for the inspection of any legal/illegal transportation of soil or sand. Other instructions had been issued by the department to ensure transparency in the mining, the spokesperson said.