The Punjab and Haryana High Court has already reprimanded the Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab Government for rampant illegal mining in the state, meanwhile, the Leader of the Opposition (LoP), Partap Singh Bajwa on Sunday slammed the government and pollution control board for their failure to conduct proper verification before issuing consent to operate crushers.
Citing a news report Bajwa said that the aforementioned issue was raised by the Department of Mine Geology during a meeting with the board, the minutes of the meeting of which have been submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT).
“The possibility of corruption by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) in issuing consent to establish and operate the crushers for mining cannot be ruled out. Therefore, the Punjab government should order an inquiry on the same and take action against the erring officials”, Bajwa added.
Senior Congress Leader, Bajwa said that the AAP government seemed to have never been serious about keeping tabs on illegal mining in the state. The Punjab and Haryana High Court, Ministry of Defence and the Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit had previously taken serious note of the illegal mining in the state and directed the Punjab government to keep check on this illegal practice.
“The AAP’s National Convener and Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal before the assembly election 2022 had vowed to end the illegal sand mining and raise Rs 20000 crore revenue from this. Yet, after two years in government, it has neither been able to end illegal mining nor it has raised Rs 20000 crore in revenue. It only befooled the people of Punjab to garner votes before the assembly elections in 2022”, Bajwa added.
