How much soil can you dig out from your own land?
Up to three metres deep, for your own purposes, but only after informing the district mining officer concerned prior to the digging to evade penal action, Bihar’s mines minister Ramanand Yadav told the state legislative council while replying to the “earthy” question by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) member Ajay Kumar Singh, who alleged farmers were facing penal action from police and mining officials for removing silt from their own land in the Kosi region.
Singh claimed thousands of acres of land in Kosi region were still covered with heavy silt since the 2008 floods. “The farmers are unable to grow crops on the land as removal of silt required permission from officials,” the RJD leader said.
In response, the mines minister clarified that his department had stipulated guidelines for removal of sand or silt from the cultivable land in districts of Kosi division such as Saharsa, Supaul and Madhupura. “The collectors of the districts concerned have been asked to issue special permits for digging of sand or silt from the land without any charge,” he said.
Members cutting across the party lines, however, claimed that penalising farmers for removing silt or soil from their own land for earth filling in their houses had become order of the day.
An Independent member, Maheshwar Singh, claimed many farmers were made to pay up to ₹50,000 as penalty for carrying silt from their own land in Champaran region.
Ruling JD(U) member Bhishm Sahni too claimed farmers were tortured for digging soil from their own land.
Acknowledging the members’ contention, chairman of the legislative council, Devesh Chandra Thakur, asked the minister to ensure that the guidelines issued for silt removal or soil digging by the owner of the land are followed.
Some of the members demanded that power to issue permit for digging of silt or soil should be delegated to the panchayat level from the district mining officers.
Pvt schools face probe for violation RTE rules
Education minister Chandra Shekhar on Friday assured the state legislative council that an inquiry would be conducted to ascertain whether private schools were adhering to the norms of offering 25% seats for the poor students in accordance with the Right to Education Act. “The schools found indulging in irregularities would penalised and their registration would be cancelled,” said the minister in reply to another call attention moved by RJD member Rambali Singh.
The RJD member alleged that private schools, in connivance with officials, were gobbling up crores of the state government’s grant in the name of providing free education to students of weaker sections. He said government was currently offering ₹8,000/student to private schools under the RTE act, but the target sections are not benefiting.
JD-U member Niraj Kumar backed Singh’s support and demanded stern against the guilty schools.
BJP member Naval Kishor Yadav, who was chairing the proceedings at the time, alleged that the poor students, enrolled under the RTE Act, were not treated on par with general students in the schools.
In his reply, the education minister said the department was framing rules and developing a portal to bring in more transparency in implementation of the RTE Act in the state.
