CHANDIGARH: After Punjab power and irrigation minister
Rana Gurjit Singh's resignation was accepted on Thursday, the
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) termed it as too little too late. The party leaders demanded that the ruling
Congress should register criminal case against
Rana in the sand mining scam.
Former minister and SAD spokesman Daljit
Cheema said chief minister
Amarinder Singh had turned a blind eye to the sand mining scam for 10 months and had kept giving clean chits to the tainted minister. "Criminal matters like the sand mining scam should be dealt with on merit by the CM. How can government files be shared with
Rahul Gandhi? Only party matters can be taken up with the Congress high command," said Cheema.
The SAD leader said it was strange that no FIR had been registered in the case till now even though the Congress party had admitted Rana's guilt by sacking him. Cheema added, "No action is being taken against the Congress legislators who ganged up to bid for 18 sand mines collectively. This led to the sand mines being allotted to them through single bids."
Apart from the directorate of enforcement (ED) and income tax department, the CBI should also be involved to get to the bottom of this mining scam, said Cheema. He further added it was a shame that the state had failed to trace the money trail of Rs 26 crore acquired by Rana's Nepalese cook Amit Bahadur till now.
No investigation has been done to find out how a tainted contractor Gurinder Singh, who is an accused in Rs 1,000-crore irrigation scam, funded Rs 5 crore for a sand mine auction bid made by a company of Rana's associates, said the SAD leader.
Rana Gurjit Singh(file photo)
