Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday demanded an all-party Assembly committee to look into the issue of illegal mining and ‘Goonda Tax’ in the state. A delegation under the leadership of the leader of Opposition, Sukhpal Singh Khaira on Tuesday met the Punjab Assembly speaker to raise which the AAP siad is causing widespread resentment amongst the people. The members of the delegation including co-president of AAP, Aman Arora and deputy leader of opposition Sarabjeet Kaur Manuke.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Khaira said that the issue of illegal mining has dominated the political spectrum of Punjab for the past many years and was a major issue during the last assembly polls. The Congress party in its election manifesto had promised to put an end to large scale illegal mining undertaken by the mafia-politician nexus during the ten years of SAD-BJP rule.
Khaira said unfortunately, during the last eight to 10 months, mining mafia backed by politicians have again raised their head and started indulging in illegal mining across the riverbeds of the state.
Reports of such blatant illegal mining taking place are coming from every nook and corner of the state including Khizrabad near Mullanpur, Samrala, Ropar, Rahon, Faridkot, Ferozpore, Harike, TaranTaran, Shahkot and Pathankot, Khaira said.