Gurnam Singh comes to the Bela bus stand in Chamkaur Sahib, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s constituency, every day. The social activist and president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) unit in the area meets and consoles his fellow villagers, trying to give them hope.
Gurnam Singh is a worried man these days. He knows that Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh alias Honey has been sent to 14-day judicial custody in the illegal sand mind case. “This means he can get bail soon,” says Singh.
The prospect is worrisome for Gurnam Singh and my like him in the village who blew the whistle on the illegal sand mining that had allegedly been going on for years in Bela village.
Standing on the banks of the river Sutlej in Bela village, Singh says greedy miners have uprooted trees even in protected forests. “Each truck of sand would get only Rs 25,000, but because of illegal mining, the revenue went up to more than Rs 45,000 per truck. The earning went up in crores and soon Honey was a rich man,” Singh tells News18.
“It just couldn’t have happened without the patronage of bigger leaders like Channi and Akalis. I spoke to Channi and told him about it. But he said nothing much,” Singh adds.
Whistleblower Gurnam Singh told News18 that nearby villages are at the risk of floods since there are embankments anymore. (Pallavi Ghosh/News18)
A villager, who wished to remain anonymous, says they were asked to look the other way, and some were even offered money to do so. “We were asked not...
A man has filed a lawsuit against his ex-girlfriend, a longtime Detroit police officer, claiming she fabricated stalking charges that landed him in jail before the case was dismissed. In a 24-page,...