Aam Aadmi Party’s Punjab in-charge Raghav Chadha has accused Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi of lying and misleading the people of Punjab about the illegal sand mining in his constituency Chamkaur sahib’s village Jindapur. Mr. Chadha apprised the Chandigarh media about the statements made on Social media about the illegal mining in Jindapur by the local people there. Raghav Chadha demaded Punjab Police to file a case against Charanjit Singh Channi and illegally operating mafia.Addressing reporters at the party headquarters here on Monday, Raghav Chadha said that a few days back he (Raghav Chadha) along with the media, raided the illegally operating sand mining gorge in village Jindapur which is in Charanjit Singh Channi’s own constituency Chamkaur sahib, where he had exposed the ongoing sand mafia in Punjab. Chadha said that instead of taking action against the sand mafia, Chief Minister Channi visited a sand mining site in a river near Ropar and claimed that he (Channi) was standing in Jindapur mining site and (claimed) there was no illegal mining.
Raghav Chadha has alleged, “Chief Minister Channi had lied about going to a sand pit in village Jindapur, when he was present at a sand pit near Ropar,which is 40 kilometers from Jindapur village. In the Video of Chief Minister’s visit to the site, a Gurudwara sahib on the banks of Ropar river is clearly visible, whereas there is no Gurdwara Sahib building near the gorge of Jindapur.” Chadha released videos of some local leaders of villages near Jindapur, Lehbar Singh (Dawoodpur Sarpanch), Harinder Kaka Jatana (Block President Kisan Union), Karnail Singh Raseedpur (Gen. Sec. Kisan Union) , Jagir Singh (Gurdwara Committee President Vajidpur) and Happy Dawoodpur (Youth Akali leader), according to them due to sand mining in village Jindapur has been illegally done, is putting lives at stake in 35 nearby villages. Through this video the villagers said that sand extraction was discontinued only for 3 hours visit of Raghav Chadha and was resumed later again. Many trucks full of illegally mined sand were parked there. Here sand is being extracted from the forest deptt land. Thousands of saplings planted in that land have been destroyed. We complained about it DFO but he didn’t take any action because he got 10% share. Dhunsi Dam is in danger of collapsing and 35 villages including Vajidpur and Raseedpur are at risk. This area as well as Sand mining deptt, both belong to Chief Minister. Channi himself had visited Dhunsi dam during floods when he was only MLA and planted trees to save dam from collapsing. CM is requested to take action against the illegal sand diggers.”
Raghav Chadha pointed out that when Mr. Channi became CM he said that, “Sand Mafia should not come to me. I am not the Chief Minister of sand mafia.” But soon after that like his fellow congressmen he broke his promise and joined hands with the sand mafia, the sand mafia, today, is running under the patronage of Chief Minister Channi, claimed Raghav Chadha. Chadha said that if mining was taking place in Jindapur as per the law then why the sand quarry was not marked as per Rule No. 20 of the government notification. Why weren't signs and flags put up there? According to the notification, flags should be hoisted on the sand pit.Raghav Chadha further added that forest department officer who had written a letter to SDM complaining about this illegal sand mining has also been wrongly transferred. When this area of Jindapur is under the protection of forest deptt that menas no mining can be done here, which is further proof that sand mafia is working under CM Channi and he’s not only aware of all these but has also joined the hands with sand mafia to protect them.Raghav Chadha asked, “Why is Chief Minister Channi lying? Being at such a respectful position, is it graceful of him to lie?” He said that sand was not being sold at fixed price and sand mafia is still in full swing. He was accompanied by party spokesperson Neil Garg and advocate Dinesh Chadha.