Jakhar to raise Goonda tax issue in assembly

Reacting to an HT report, 'Mining Ban: Rs. 20 lakh a day goonda tax on sand, gravel in Pathankot', Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Sunil Jakhar on Sunday said that the issue of extortion of daily goonda tax to the tunes of lakhs of rupees would be raised in the next session of the state assembly.

Reacting to an HT report, 'Mining Ban: Rs. 20 lakh a day goonda tax on sand, gravel in Pathankot', Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Sunil Jakhar on Sunday said that the issue of extortion of daily goonda tax to the tunes of lakhs of rupees would be raised in the next session of the state assembly.

HT Image

"Even after instructions from the Punjab and Haryana high court, the state government had failed to streamline sand mining, under pressure from the sand mafia. More than a year had passed when high court ordered the closure of 241 sand mines, but nothing has been done," he added.

He alleged that the bogey of sand scarcity had been raised to loot the common man.

"It is clear that sand is being sold at many time the rates prescribed by the state. Poor farmers are arrested in the name of illegal mining, while the masterminds are set free," he alleged.