Gurnam Singh visits Bela Bus Stand in Chamkaur Sahib, the parliamentary constituency of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, daily. In the area, the social worker and the president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) unit meets and consoles his fellow villagers, trying to give them hope.
Gurnam Singh is worried these days. he knows that Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh aka Honey Has been sent to judicial custody for 14 days in illegal sand case. “It means he may get bail soon,” says Singh.
For villagers like Gurnam Singh and me, who have been whistling over the alleged illegal sand mining in Bela village for years, this prospect is worrying.
Singh, standing on the banks of the Sutlej river in Bela village, says greedy miners have uprooted trees even in protected forests. “Each truck of sand would get only Rs 25,000, but due to illegal mining, the revenue per truck exceeded Rs 45,000. The earnings went into crores and soon Honey became a rich man,” Singh told News18.
“This could not have happened without the patronage of big leaders like channi and the Akalis. I spoke to Channi and told her about it. But he didn’t say much,” says Singh.
One villager, who wished to remain anonymous, says they were asked to look the other way, and some were even paid to do so. “We were told not to ask questions and do our bit. Some villagers were offered a hefty amount to keep quiet and let the trucks go through the night.”
The success of illegal mining came with flourishing construction in the prosperous parts of Punjab. As skyscrapers became more common, the demand for sand increased and it turned into gold.
Considering the increase in demand for sand due to increased construction in the state, the government decided to conduct e-auction of mines near water bodies. This would have earned a revenue of around Rs 300 to 350 crore. But illegal mining has reduced this to around Rs 45 crore as more and more money is siphoned off and actual sand mining is reported.
The 102 mines located in 14 districts across the state have an annual withdrawable volume of about 20 million tonnes. At present, there are 87 operational mines with a total capacity of 10 million tonnes.
In 2017, the main election issue was drugs and unemployment. This time the arrest of Channi’s nephew Honey has added to the list of illegal sand mining. Congress He has fully supported his Chief Minister and is doing everything possible to present him as an honest and humble person.
But the issue has given ammunition to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is emerging as the main challenger, and the Akalis. AAP has already coined the slogan ‘Chor Channi’ and has questioned the Congress’s decision to project her as the CM face while branding its own honesty card.
For the Akalis, this is the perfect weapon to hit back at the Congress and question why Channi has not been sacked yet.
Speaking to News18 recently, Channi had said: “AAP has had to apologize to many leaders, for example Nitin Gadkari. They also have to apologize to me. I haven’t done anything wrong. My poor background is being insulted.”
Away from all this politics, Gurnam Singh and others have little hope of change. “They are big people. They won’t even let it become an election issue. After the election is over, and whoever comes to power, illegal mining will start again. The problem will be for the nearby villages because during the floods All the water flows into the villages as there is no embankment to protect them now.”
“This rta (sand) will fly up leaders, They will not be touched. And this is Bella’s sorrow.”
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