The Punjab government has placed the mining officer of Mohali and Rupnagar districts, Vipan Kumar, under suspension for laxity towards checking illegal sand and gravel mining.
Acting on the directions of state mining minister Harjot Singh Bains, department secretary Krishan Kumar placed Vipan under suspension with immediate effect. He would be chargesheeted for illegal mining in the Rupnagar and Mohali clusters, where contractors have done massive mining without paying any fee to the government.
The department has already suspended mining operations of these two clusters as the mining contractor, Rakesh Choudhary, failed to deposit ₹28 crore as fee for mining, according to the contract.
The suspension came a day after the state mining minister ordered strict action against illegal mining.
Vishal Rambani is Assistant Editor at Hindustan Times, covering Punjab's political, governance and public policy landscape. With more than two decades of journalistic experience, he has extensively reported on politics, power and energy, crime, bureaucracy, environment, urban development and socio-economic issues. His reporting combines ground-level coverage with data-driven and investigative journalism, producing impactful stories on governance, regulatory affairs, corruption, public finance, elections and infrastructure. Over the years, he has broken several exclusive stories involving enforcement agencies, the power sector, real estate, and state administration, earning recognition for incisive reporting, accuracy and in-depth analysis of Punjab's evolving political and administrative landscape.