Cornering the newly elected Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that has vowed to stamp out illegal mining from Punjab, opposition parties questioned the transfer of a senior IPS officer a week after he busted a gang of illegal sand miners.
On Friday, the state government issued transfer orders for 13 senior superintendents of police (SSP), among whom was Dhruman H Nimbale. He was shunted out of Hoshiarpur within a week after he busted an alleged gang of illegal sand miners and made one of the biggest cash seizures worth Rs 1.53 crore.
Chief minister Bhagwant Mann had promised tough action against illegal sand mining during his election campaign during the assembly polls as well as after assuming charge.
Nimbale’s transfer has given the opposition ammunition against the AAP. Congress and former AAP leaders have raised questions over the state government’s commitment in ending the sand mafia menace.
Posted to Muktsar, Nimbale has an unblemished track record, is known to take on the sand mafia and has been transferred 18 times in eight years. Before this, his last two transfers took place during the Congress-led government and coincided with action against illegal sand mining in Tarn Taran and Moga.
He ordered over 100 FIRs in cases of illegal sand mining during his tenure as the SSP of Tarn Taran, Moga and Hoshiarpur.
After the AAP-led government took charge, he cracked down on sand miners impersonating government officials, who were allegedly charging “illegal tax” from truck drivers.
Punjab Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa expressed surprise at the recent transfer of the Hoshiarpur SSP. In a tweet he said, “Instead of ‘badlav’ (change) as promised by AAP the officer is awarded with ‘badli’ (transfer). The SSP of Hoshiarpur is transferred after seizing Rs 1.53 cr and breaking a sand mining gang. Surprising.” (sic)
Congress MLA Pargat Singh said the AAP government had transferred an officer “who dared to register a case against the mining mafia”.
“AAP govt has transferred Hoshiarpur SSP @dhruman39, who dared to register case against mining mafia. He had busted a Gunda-Tax racket & recovered ₹1.53 crore cash 5 days ago. Instead of encouraging such honest officers, @BhagwantMann govt is transferring them. I hope this is not badlav,” said Pargat Singh.
Former Patiala MP Dr Dharamvira Gandhi also took on the AAP government on Twitter. Questioning Nimbale’s transfer, Dr Gandhi shared Pargat Singh’s tweet with detailed information on the illegal sand mining racket busted by the police officer a few days ago.
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