Small fry in police net

THE Punjab and Haryana High Court’s question to the Punjab Police on why the cops had not caught the big fish in a Ropar illegal mining case reinforces what is commonly seen on the ground. With pits of sand and mounds of gravel dotting the state, it is no secret that the mining mafia is flourishing. Equally evident is that it is the small fry who are nabbed while the sharks get away, allegedly due to their links with senior officers and leaders of various political dispensations. The present case is illustrative as the drivers of a JCB machine and a tipper have been arraigned as accused, while those running the racket remain shielded.

The HC’s assertion that the police appeared to be hand in glove with illegal miners in the Ropar area sums up the sorry state of affairs. It should shake up the department and make it clamp down on the real culprits. For, till they are caught, tried in court on the basis of foolproof chargesheets and punished, this nexus cannot be broken. Ropar is a hub of illegal mining. In August alone, 19 tippers, five tractor trailers, 10 poclain machines and five JCB machines were seized in the district.

The Aam Aadmi Party rode to power largely on the promise of ushering in an era of corruption-free governance in the state that was sick of mighty, well-connected people robbing the exchequer of crores of rupees. While it is commendable that the government has cracked down on kingpins such as former CM Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey and Rakesh Chaudhry, who is linked to the Congress, the apparently selective action smacks of political vendetta. It seems to be ‘business as usual’ elsewhere, and the mining mafia continues to thrive. No criminal should be spared.