No stake in sand mining business, claims Rana Gurjeet

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 25

Rejecting media reports, Punjab Irrigation and Power Minister Rana Gurjeet Singh on Thursday clarified that neither he nor his company — Rana Sugars Limited — has any direct or indirect stake in the sand mining business. 

The minister categorically denied any links of his family members or employees with the sand mining business. 

The minister termed as incorrect the reports in a section of the media claiming that two of his company employees had successfully bid for sand mines.

The employees in question had left their jobs a long time ago, which can be verified from the company’s records, Rana Gurjeet said.

Though he was personally not involved in the day-to-day functioning of his companies for the last about two decades, he could say “with command and confidence that neither any of the employees working in these companies nor any of my family members has any interest or stake in sand mining business in Punjab,” Rana Gurjeet asserted.

The fact that some of his former employees reportedly bid for the mines does not in any way imply that he has interests or stakes in the business, said the minister.

“There are thousands of employees who have worked with me and left from time to time and I cannot be held accountable for what they do after leaving my companies,” he added.

Pointing out that his businesses had an annual turnover of more than thousand crores, Rana Gurjeet asked, “With an already running business in hundreds of crores, does it make any sense to indulge in a business of a few crores of rupees?”