Maharashtra Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Thursday, 2 July announced in the state assembly that farmers across the state will no longer be required to pay any royalty to the government for extracting minor minerals — including soil, silt, and murum (hard murram) — for agricultural land improvement or for constructing wells, cattle sheds, and farmhouses. A formal Government Resolution (GR) was issued immediately after the announcement, giving the decision legal force on the same day.

What the Decision Covers

Under the new dispensation, farmers are free to excavate silt, soil, and murum from reservoirs, village ponds, farm ponds, percolation tanks, village streams, revenue streams, weirs, Malgujari tanks, and minor irrigation tanks under the jurisdiction of the Water Resources and Soil Conservation Departments, as well as from their own fields. The extracted material can be used to fill potholes, clear monsoon mud on farms and access roads, dig wells, construct cattle sheds, and repair farmhouses — all without any royalty payment.

Simplified Permission Process

To reduce bureaucratic burden, the government has streamlined the application process. A farmer is now required to submit only a simple application to the local Talathi (village revenue official). The concerned Circle Officer is legally mandated to grant permission within 15 days of receiving the application. Where ponds or streams fall under the Soil Conservation Department, a No Objection Certificate (NOC) must be obtained from that department; for revenue streams, the Tahsildar is the approving authority.

Strict Action Against Harassment of Farmers

Minister Bawankule made clear that no police or revenue official will be permitted to seize tractors, trucks, or bullock carts transporting soil or murum for personal and agricultural use. 'No Tahsildar or police official will seize tractors, trucks, or bullock carts if farmers are transporting soil or murum for personal and agricultural use. No punitive action will be taken against them. If any official unnecessarily harasses a farmer, the government will take stringent action,' he said. The minister added that strict action would be pursued in both houses of the Maharashtra State Legislature against any official found imposing unlawful fines.

Background and Legislative Push

The announcement came in response to demands raised on the floor of the assembly by a cross-party group of MLAs, including Sanjay Puram, Abhimanyu Pawar, Gopichand Padalkar, Ratnakar Gutte, Ashish Deshmukh, Santosh Danve, Satish Deshmukh, Narayan Kuche, Rajkumar Badole, Ashish Jaiswal, Nana Patole, and Vijay Wadettiwar. This legislative pressure — spanning the ruling and opposition benches — underscores how widespread farmer grievances over minor mineral royalties had become. With Maharashtra's economy heavily reliant on agriculture, the decision is framed as a rural development accelerant.

Commercial Misuse Not Tolerated

The minister was explicit that the concession is strictly for personal and agricultural use. 'This decision has been taken solely for the personal welfare of farmers and the betterment of agriculture. No commercial misuse of this concession will be tolerated, and standard legal action will be initiated if any commercial exploitation is detected,' Bawankule said. The government is expected to put monitoring mechanisms in place to prevent the exemption from being exploited by commercial sand and mineral operators.

The move is seen as a significant policy shift for Maharashtra's farming community and is likely to ease long-standing tensions between rural households and local revenue officials over minor mineral extraction.