Days after the Punjab and Haryana High Court restrained Punjab government from allowing mining along Ravi River in Pathankot and Gurdaspur, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) General Secretary Tarun Chugh, on Saturday, said, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government in the state is putting national security at stake by allowing illegal mining on the Indo-Pak border in Punjab.
Expressing concern over the ongoing mining along the Ravi River bed, Chugh alleged that AAP ministers and leaders are hand in glove with mining mafia undermining national security.
Following objections raised by the Border Security Force (BSF) and other security agencies on the illegal mining along the international border, he said, the state government seems to be making money by putting the nation’s security at stake.
Chugh demanded an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the cases of illegal mining along the Indo-Pak border saying that the AAP Government’s nefarious designs should be exposed sooner than later.
He said, the AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal had promised people of Punjab to get rid of mafias, but he has joined hands with them and has started taking illegal gains out of it.
“The false and misleading propaganda of Kejriwal would be exposed by the BJP in other states as well, as Punjab has started learning its lessons,”Chugh said.
After the Indian Army and BSF in their reports to High Court termed the mining in areas along the international border with Pakistan as threat to national security, the court on Monday restrained Punjab Government from allowing mining along Ravi River in Pathankot and Gurdaspur.
The Punjab Government had told the court that mining has been prevented till September due to the rainy season. The BSF, however, contradicted the state government’s stand and submitted that the sand mining is going on unabated and unchecked in River Ravi in close proximity to the international border areas in Gurdaspur.
The BSF and Army expressed concern over the ditches created due to illegal mining saying that tunnels can be constructed from the Pakistan side. Moreover, the course of the river may change damaging BSF posts along the border.
“Illegal mining facilitates the nexus between drugs smugglers and terrorists,” the Army said.