category Regional, chandigarh, , tags Regional, chandigarh, , DW BUREAU Chandigarh Former minister Bikram Singh Majithia today asked chief minister Bhagwant Mann why he was running away from explaining the renewal of mining contracts of two sand mining mafia kingpins within one month of their termination on charges of malpractices, even as he demanded the arrest of Mining Director DPS Kharbanda for making a mining policy which encouraged corruption. Addressing a press conference here, the senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader said I asked some straight questions from the chief minister yesterday including the renewal of mining contracts to Rakesh Chaudhary and Ashok Chandak despite the fact that they had been terminated following registration of several cases, institution of a CBI inquiry and even illegalities mentioned by the Enforcement Directorate. Instead of answering these questions, the chief minister fielded his spokespersons to claim that one of the contractors Rakesh Chaudhary had got a stay from the high court. This is no defence. If this was so, why was Chaudhary s contract terminated in the first place The government has not put the stay in the public realm and even if it is so it is guilty of misleading the court by hiding key facts including the four cases registered against Chaudhary, recovery charges of Rs 26 crore put against him and institution of CBI inquiry after he was accused of collecting goonda tax . Bikram Majithia also took on Mining Director DPS Kharbanda for coming up with a new mining policy aimed at turning Punjab into a tax haven for black money aka Virgin Islands. He said the new policy made by Kharbanda allowed entry of illegally mined sand from all neighbouring States into Punjab with the provision that the royalty for the same will be decided by the chief minister. This provision is aimed at encouraging corruption, which it has with more than 2,000 truckers entering Punjab every day and submitting only a fraction of the official royalty to the Punjab government. The remaining amount is being pocketed by the Kattar Beimaan Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) . He said Kharbanda s arrest was necessary to trace the trail of money which would end at the doorsteps of AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal. (editor dailyworld.in)