Rs. 300 Crore Mining Scam in J&K, Congress demands probe
BJP’s Ex-MLC levels corruption charges against Union Minister, threatens self-immolation
Northlines Correspondent
Jammu Tawi, May 3: Senior Jammu Kashmir BJP leader and former MLC Choudhary Vikram Randhawa has levelled serious charges of corruption and extortion against Minister of State in PMO, Dr. Jitendra Singh and senior civil and police officers in illegal mining racket in Jammu Kashmir Union Territory.
Vikram Randhawa, who is also president of Stone Crusher Owners Association in a press conference, threatened self-immolation if UT administration failed to settle the ‘unjustifiable’ penalty imposed by the Geology & Mining Department on some stone crusher owners in Jammu.
“I will shoot myself or burn myself alive if the UT Government fails to take action against our harassment by the DMO, Ankur Sachdeva. He is collecting huge money from the stone crushers installed in Jammu district”, said Randhawa, adding that last year he imposed a penalty of Rs 25 lakhs for his legally-established crusher.
Randhawa in his outburst on the Geology and Mining department held the District Mining Officer (DMO) Ankur Sachdeva being the frontman in the extortion racket and accused the Divisional Commissioner Jammu, SSP Jammu and a tout in Minister’s local office of having their role in it.
Randhawa said that even after the mining was banned in 2017, the illegal mining was clandestinely continued and a number of projects like Ring Road, 4-lanning of Akhnoor road and others worth Rs. 2700 Crore were ongoing by using enormous sand, gravels and other minor minerals. He said that the royalty for minor minerals extracted illegally for such projects comes to an estimate of Rs. 350-400 Crores while only Rs. Six Crore have been collected by the department. He alleged that rest of the money was siphoned off by the mining mafia and their patrons.
Randhawa, levelled serious allegations of corruption against Singh’s office in Jammu for patronising illegal mining and the mining policy in J&K and threatened to immolate himself next week if the penalty notices are not reversed. Randhawa alleged that the registered stone crushers are facing the worst of times since 2017 and their children are on the verge of starvation due to the mining department.
In a damage control exercise, Jitender Singh’s local office in Jammu promptly called a counter-press conference refuting the allegations. Making a serious note, Sanjeev Sharma, BJP Executive Member and staff at Singh’s local office set a deadline for Randhawa of 24 hours, asking him to prove his allegations or seek a public apology otherwise to get ready to face a defamation case of Rs 1 crore. Reacting to the allegations, Sharma expressed his displeasure, saying, “He had leveled allegations on this office as well as the Union Minister directly.”
“If he has any proof, he should come forward within 24 hours and make it public or otherwise tender a public apology to the Union Minister who has decided to file a defamation case of Rs one crore against him,” Sharma told reporters at a presser here.
In a separate, interview to a video channel, the District Mining Officer, Ankur Sharma, refuted allegations of corruption and extortion levelled by Randhawa which he said were ill-intentioned and motivated and prompted by the penalty notices issued by the department for recovery of lakh of rupees. He defended the departmental action and reiterated that the process will not end under such threats and false allegations.
Meanwhile, the party’s disciplinary committee, hours after the videos of press conference levelling corruption charges against Union minister Jitendra Singh, went viral on social media issued a show-cause notice wherein Randhawa has been asked to reply within two days along with any evidence to prove his allegations. The letter, signed by the chairman of the BJP’s Disciplinary Committee Sunil Sethi and members Virenderjeet Singh and N D Rajwal, took note of the “unparliamentary language” used by the leader, terming it “highly objectionable”.
“More so, this has prima facie tarnished the image of the party, believing strictly in discipline and decency. You are hereby directed to file your reply along with evidence, if any available with you, within next two days,” the letter said, adding on receipt of the reply, the next date in the matter would be fixed.
“This notice of show-cause initiates disciplinary proceedings against you in line with directions of Jammu and Kashmir Bhartiya Janata Party President (Ravinder Raina) with regard to addressing a press conference and a series of media interactions by you while levelling unfounded allegations against a senior leader of party holding responsible position in the Union Council of Ministers” reads a letter by the three-member disciplinary committee addressed to party Secretary Randhawa.
The letter said the proceedings would be done expeditiously and the report will be submitted to J&K BJP President within two weeks positively.
Earlier during the day, Randhawa said he had not rebelled against the party or the leadership, but wanted the “facts” to reach the high command including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He made allegations of Singh’s Jammu office being hand-in-glove with the mining department of the union territory.
“I want to clarify that BJP has no role in it. I have been a BJP worker for the last 30 years while Singh is just a decade old and was introduced into the party by me and also ensured a ticket to him in 2014 parliamentary elections,” he said.
The Congress has demanded an impartial high-level probe into the allegations levelled by senior BJP leader against party colleague in the Prime Minister’s office.
“It is a serious matter as allegations were levelled against a senior BJP leader in the PMO and bureaucracy of corruption charged and ‘vasooli’ (extortions)… we appeal to Lt Governor to order a high-level probe to unravel the truth,” senior Congress leader and former minister Yogesh Sawhney said to a news agency.
However, J&K BJP President Ravinder Raina maintained a safe posture on the controversy. As per media reports, Raina said that Vikram Randhawa is State Secretary of BJP but he has addressed the press conference in the capacity of leader of a Stone Crushers Association.
