Corruption by woman mining officer ignored for 3 yrs: Ropar MLA
: A day after the arrests of a woman mining officer and her two aides in a bribery case, Ropar MLA Amarjeet Singh Sandoa claimed that in the past three years, he wrote at least ten letters to the authorities concerned, including the chief minister, complaining about the rampant corruption by the officer, but no action was taken against her.
The vigilance bureau on Monday arrested Ropar mining officer Simarpreet Kaur Dhillon, also having additional charge of Mohali stone crushers, mining guard Pal Singh and clerk Aman while taking a bribe of ₹25,000 from the owner of a crusher at Anandpur Sahib. The arrest was made at the district mining office in Phase 7, Mohali.
All three were produced before a court on Tuesday, which sent them to three-day police remand. MLA Sandoa said Dhillon used to take bribes from stone crushers in Ropar area on a monthly basis, and if anybody failed to make the payment, she used to seal their units. Her aid Pala Singh used to collect the
money. “I have written at least 10 letters to the authorities concerned complaining about her corruption, but no action was taken against her,” he said.
Last month, Mubarakpur Crushers Association lodged a complaint with the principal secretary (mining) against Dhillon alleging that she along with mining contractors demanded monthly payments from all screening plant and crusher owners in the form of ‘goonda tax’. Association’s vice-president Ranjit Singh Teja said, “In December last year, when crusher owners refused to pay her money, she sealed all the screening plants and crushing units in the area. We were not even able to work.”