April 12, 2015 by admin

Badals making crores from illegal mining: Bains brothers

Ludhiana, Independent MLA brothers Simarjit Singh Bains and Balwinder Singh Bains today slammed Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal for allegedly pocketing crores of rupees per day through illegal sand and gravel mining.The MLA brothers, who were arrested yesterday along with nearly 200 activists for protesting against the sand mafia, were released last night after they furnished a personal bail bond.Simarjit said the police might again arrest them before their next protest scheduled for April 20.“Earlier the sand mining business was for the poor villagers living alongside the riverbed. A mining officer would sit at the quarry and after receiving revenue fees, he allowed villagers to extract sand, which was available at cheap rates. The poor could also afford to construct a house. But ever since the Badals came to power, they have taken over the mining operations to amass wealth,” he alleged.The brothers said if offered, they would join hands with the Aam Aam Party. He thanked AAP supporters who joined them in their protest yesterday.“I believe we (AAP and ‘Team Insaf’ formed by Simarjit) are working for a common cause. We are working for the betterment of the state,” he said.He alleged that the Congress was equally involved in this illegal activity which was evident from their keeping mum over the matter.Simarjit said that his state wide protest would initiate on April 20 and he would visit 14 districts of the states to encourage people to rise against the “corrupt” government.