Under heat for allegation against Punjab Cabinet Minister Rana Gurjit Singh for acquiring mines through “benami transactions”, Punjab Congress on Sunday maintained that Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh was looking into it while assuring that the Government was committed to uphold the trust reposed in it by the people.
Opposition parties, including the Aam Aadmi Party and the Shiromani Akali Dal, have demanded sacking of the State Irrigation and Power Minister besides a probe into the allegation that he acquired sand and gravel mines through benami transactions in the name of his company’s cook and staff.
At the same time, the allegations were categorically denied by Rana Gurjit saying that neither he nor his company — Rana Sugars limited — had any direct or indirect stakes in sand mining business.
“Captain Sahib (Amarinder Singh) is looking into the matter. He is getting all details,” said the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Sunil Jakhar.
“The Congress and Capt Amarinder Singh are aware of the fact that people have not only voted for the party but have also reposed faith in it as well. I can assure you, on behalf of the Chief Minister and the party, that we will uphold the trust that people have shown in us,” he said.
Notably, a week back, a two-day e-auction of sand mines in Punjab culminated with bids worth Rs 1,026 crore secured for 89 mines, the highest ever earnings for the State from sand mining sector.
A day before, AAP MlA Sukhpal Khaira had claimed that there was a “big scam” in the allotment of the contracts. He alleged that Rana Gurjit pumped his own money through his four former employees to get mining contracts in Punjab.
Khaira had also showed the copy of the purported income tax return for the financial year 2014-15 of Amit Bahadur, one of the minister’s former cooks, according to which, his income was about Rs 95,000. Khaira pointed that Bahadur was getting a salary of just Rs 11,706 per month, and with such a meagre income, will a cook be able to bag mining contract of Rs 26 croreIJ
Opposition parties, including the SAD and its ally, the BJP, had pointed fingers at the allotment of mining contracts to Amit Bahadur for Rs 26.51 crore, Kulvinder Paul Singh for Rs 9.21 crore, Gurinder Singh for Rs 4.11 crore and Balraj Singh for Rs 10.58 crore.
However, Rana Gurjit had said, “The fact that some of my former employees reportedly bid for the mines does not in any way imply that I have interests or stakes in the business.”
“There are thousands of employees who have worked with me and left from time to time and I cannot be held accountable for what they do after leaving my companies,” he had said.