Ludhiana: Residents of two Jagraon villages stop over 100 trucks over ‘illegal sand mining’

The residents of Kot Mana and Gorsian Qadar Baksh village in Jagraon staged a protest on Saturday and stopped nearly 100 trucks, which according to them were ferrying sand illegally quarried from the banks of Sutlej River.

With elections round the corner, the issue of illegal sand mining has again surfaced in Dakha constituency.

The residents of Kot Mana and Gorsian Qadar Baksh village in Jagraon staged a protest on Saturday and stopped nearly 100 trucks, which according to them were ferrying sand illegally quarried from the banks of Sutlej River.

The matter soon snowballed into a political issue with representatives and supporters of various political parties, who are fighting the elections, reaching the spot.

A mining department official, however, said that the sand was collected from a government-approved quarry in Jalandhar.

Damanjeet Singh Mohi, OSD to former chief minister (CM) Amarinder Singh who is now fighting on Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) ticket, joined the protest and claimed that illegally extracted sand was being taken from the village to avoid checking.

Gurpreet Singh, a resident of the village, said that despite being a hot poll issue, illegal sand mining is going on unabated on the banks of Sutlej River.

“On an average, 377 trucks cross the village in an hour. By all legal means, as per the market rate, a profit of ₹10,000 per truck is made by selling the sand. Going by that reason, the sand mafia is making ₹37 lakh per hour,” said Gurpreet Singh.

On the other hand, district mining officer Harjot Singh Walia said that following the preliminary probe, it was found that the truck was ferrying sand collected from a government approved sand mine located in Jalandhar.

“The villagers have demanded demarcation of their land which will be done in the morning,” said Walia.

Manpreet Singh Ayali, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA said that this illegal activity has been going on for a long time and it has picked up pace following the enforcement of code of conduct.

“The enforcement directorate is already probing the role of chief minister (CM) Charanjit Singh Channi’s nephew in an illegal sand mining case. If SAD forms a government, all those involved behind the illegal mining will be sent behind the bars,” said Ayali.