Punjab LoP Partap Singh Bajwa slams AAP over illegal mining

Chandigarh, November 24

The Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Partap Singh Bajwa on Friday condemned the Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab Government for its utter failure to keep a check on illegal sand mining in the state.

“The state government led by CM Bhagwant Mann seems to have surrendered itself to the mining mafia. Illegal sand mining has been on without any deterrence from law enforcement agencies. From the manner the illegal mining is going on openly, it appears that there is some sort of connivance between the mining mafia and some influential people within the government,” said Bajwa.

“A kilometre-long bridge on the Sutlej connecting Anandpur Sahib with Doaba is on the verge of collapse due to prevalent illegal mining. The Indian Army told the state government last year to take a no-objection certificate from it for any kind of mining activities along the India-Pakistan border in the future. This direction of the army has also been disagreed with as the mining in the border districts is still on,” Bajwa added.

The LoP said despite promises, the AAP government remained unsuccessful in raising Rs 20,000 crore in revenue from sand mining, and has only been able to raise Rs 75 crore.