Late on Thursday, Congress MP and former chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi visited a stretch of the Satluj riverbank in Ropar district, where he said sand was being extracted without authorisation and attributed responsibility for the activity to the Aam Aadmi Party. A first information report naming unknown individuals was subsequently lodged by police, after department officials overseeing mining operations confirmed that extraction work had been carried out without authorisation at Saidpur village, in the vicinity of Anandpur Sahib.
With a group of Congress workers alongside him, Channi travelled to the location on Thursday evening, making his way into the riverbed aboard a tipper truck, according to reports. Arriving at the location at roughly 11.30 pm, Channi told reporters that earth-moving equipment had been deployed to carry out excavation work under cover of darkness.
Sand and gravel trucks were observed pulling away from the site as he arrived, after which he attributed responsibility for what he characterised as an unlawful mining operation to AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal and chief minister Bhagwant Mann. Footage published from the location depicted heavy machinery and radio communication devices that authorities described as having been taken from individuals overseeing routes used to transport mined materials.
Channi also took issue with AAP's pre-election pledge that Punjab would bring in Rs 20,000 crore per year through sand mining, pointing out that actual revenue from the sector had reportedly fallen well short of even Rs 20 crore annually.
According to Nurpur Bedi police station's Inspector Gurmukh Singh, who heads the SHO post there, no items were found at the scene, as those responsible had already left by the time officers arrived. Unauthorised extraction of materials at Saidpur village was verified by mining department representatives, who subsequently forwarded a formal complaint to police requesting that proceedings be initiated.
Mining enforcement personnel at Anandpur Sahib found evidence of unauthorised extraction at Saidpur, according to executive engineer Bhavuk Sharma, though the equipment used in the operation had been cleared from the site before the inspection team reached the location. Ownership of the equipment and crushers was being looked into by investigators, with the names of those found to be involved set for inclusion in the FIR.
Sharma pushed back against claims of administrative inaction, pointing to six notices and an equal number of challans that the department had already placed on record for the area during October. Among the measures cited were monetary fines, formal notices, liens attached to revenue records through the Revenue Department, and the filing of police complaints.
Sukhpal Singh, the Anandpur Sahib sub-divisional magistrate, who had been present at an official meeting in Phillaur at the time of the raid, indicated through media coverage — rather than direct notification — that the matter would be looked into.
Opposition parties have filed a string of allegations that unlicensed excavation of sand from the Satluj riverbed took place during AAP's time in government — the same party that took power in 2022 having promised to dismantle the sand trade network and make building materials more affordable.
