Jammu BJP chief accuses MoS of hyperlinks with mining mafia

A SENIOR BJP chief has accused the Union Minister of State within the PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh, of patronising the mining mafia in unlawful extraction of minor minerals from river Tawi right here.
Vikram Randhawa, a former MLC who’s the president of the Stone Crushers’ Association, threatened to kill himself inside per week over a Rs 22 lakh penalty slapped on his stone-crusher unit in Belicharana space by the Geology and Mining Department. “However, before shooting myself, I will shoot District Mining Officer Ankur Sachdev,” Randhawa stated, including that Sachdev was accumulating cash from the mining mafia on behalf of Union MoS Singh.
Jitendra Singh has denied the costs, serving a discover on Randhawa demanding an unconditional apology, threatening a swimsuit of Rs 1 crore in damages in any other case. The BJP has additionally served a show-cause discover on Randhawa, searching for proof of the costs inside two days.
Randhawa has additionally accused the Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, and SSP, Jammu, of being concerned within the alleged racket.
In November final 12 months, Sachdev had raided 14 of the almost 45 stone crushersamong them was Randhawa’s unit. Each was slapped with a penalty, ranging between Rs 20-25 lakh for unlawful mining.
Defending his motion, Sachdev stated extraction of minor supplies from the Tawi had been banned by the J&Okay High Court in November 2016. On the claims of householders that the items have been shut, the official identified that data confirmed that Randhawa’s stone crusher alone had consumed 1.2 lakh items of electrical energy through the interval.
Taking be aware of Randhawa’s expenses, the Congress has demanded the resignation of Singh and a high-level probe.