CHANDIGARH: After Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s claims that his government has put an end to sand mafia in the state and brought down sand prices, the Aam Aadmi Party alleged that illegal sand mining was happening in the CM’s constituency, Chamkaur Sahib. AAP’s Punjab co-in-charge and Delhi MLA Raghav Chadha on Saturday, December 4, 2021, paid a surprise visit to Jindapur village in Chamkaur Sahib and alleged that illegal sand mining was going on there.
“Illegal sand mining in Channi’s constituency has been exposed. It is going on openly here. Sand is being illegally ferried in trucks. It is the biggest expose which will shake the state’s politics,” Chadha said.
“After becoming the CM, Channi had said ‘sand mafia should not come to me, I am not the chief minister of sand mafia’. However, as soon as he became the CM, Channi went back on his promise and joined hands with the sand mafia. Under the CM’s protection, the mafia itself is running their business in his area,” Chadha said.
The AAP leader also accused Channi of wrongly transferring a forest officer. “On November 22, forest officer Rajvansh Singh had written to the SHO and the tehsildar here, informing that this area of Jindapur was under the ‘Forest Conservation Act’, where no mining can be carried out. The very next day, the officer was transferred by the Channi government,” he alleged.