The attack comes two days after two forest officials barely survived a murderous assault by illegal sand miners in Mohali district.
Chandigarh: Punjab’s Aam Aadmi Party MLA Amarjit Singh Sandoa and his armed security guards were attacked by suspected sand mafia in Ropar district Thursday afternoon.
The video of the attack has gone viral, which shows the attackers removing the turban of the MLA.
The attack on the AAP legislator comes two days after two officials of the forest department barely survived a murderous attack by the sand mafia in Mohali district.
The MLA had gone to Beinhara village with his supporters and a group of journalists to lay bare what is alleged to be the sand mining scam. A group of people, including Ajwinder Singh, the son of the village sarpanch, was caught off-guard and immediately attacked the MLA and his supporters.
The injured legislator was rushed to PGIMER in Chandigarh where his condition is said to be stable.
SSP Ropar Raj Bachan Singh Sandhu said three of the five attackers have been arrested while Ajwinder and another attacker, Bachhiter Singh — both are murder convicts — are on the run. Their sentence is said to be suspended pending appeal in a higher court.
Punjab chief minister Capt. Amarinder Singh has sought a detailed report from the Ropar deputy commissioner on the incident.
All complaints ignored
Addressing a press conference following the incident, AAP state president Dr Balbir Singh and leader of opposition Sukhpal Singh Khaira said that party leader and RTI activist from Ropar, Dinesh Chadha, had lodged a formal complaint against illegal mining in village Beinhara three months ago but no action was taken.
“In November last year, the Ropar deputy commissioner formed a committee to probe if illegal mining was taking place in the village Beinhara and its adjoining quarries — Swara and Harshabela,” said Chadha, who was also present at the press conference.
“The DC then sent the committee’s report to the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), which revoked the ‘consent to operate’ to the contractors mining in the Beinhara quarry. But despite that illegal mining has continued,” added Chadha.
The AAP leadership said they will plan a state-wide protest against illegal mining in the coming days.
Forest officials attacked
The attack on the AAP MLA comes two days after two officials of the forest department barely survived a murderous attack by the sand mafia in Mohali district. The two forest officials, along with other workers of the department, had intercepted a sand-laden tractor-trolley at a checkpoint Monday night.
The injured officials were rushed to PGI Chandigarh with multiple head injuries.
The attacker Ajwinder Singh (yellow pagri) is the son of the village sarpanch. He and another among the attackers –Bachhiter Singh– are murder convicts. Ajwinder was earlier a supporter of @AmarjitSandoa (in orange pagri) but the two fell apart. pic.twitter.com/PzKFJdELhe
— Chitleen K Sethi (@ChitleenKSethi) June 21, 2018
Congress comes under attack
Condemning the attack on forest officials Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal said the attack on government officials as well as large-scale illegal sand mining were continuing unabated because the Congress government was patronising the mafia and also hand in glove with it.
Punjab forest minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot later said the government will come up with a policy to provide weapons to the forest officials who are on checking duty.
‘CM making empty noises’
In March this year, chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh had spotted illegal mining on the dry riverbed of the Sutlej while on his way to Kartarpur and ordered a probe. The police sprung into action and a crackdown on illegal mining followed. Later, the action against illegal mining abated. The SAD president said it was now clear that whatever the CM did was merely “making empty noises and releasing videos of illegal mining from helicopters”.
Barely a year into power, Amarinder Singh was forced to remove one of his cabinet ministers — Rana Gurjit Singh — from his cabinet after it was found that his former employees had bid for mining contracts in the state.