Suspended mining officer who rocked the state seeks reinstatement
Kanwar Inder Singh/royalpatiala.in
Ropar mining officer Simarpreet Kaur Dhillon, who was arrested by the Punjab vigilance bureau on May 3, 2021 for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 25,000 from the owner of a crusher at Anandpur Sahib, is out on bail.
After coming out on bail, now she has approached her department to “reinstate her”. The same is confirmed by executive engineer Hardeep Singh, attached with the chief engineer, mining Punjab. Hardeep Singh added that “she had written a letter around 2-3 days ago. Now its up to the state govt to take any decision. Department minister or Principal secretary of the department will take action on her request letter, to reinstate her.”
Another officer of the department, on the condition of anonymity said,” the department is going to reinstate her, citing shortage of officials and post her in or around Hoshiarpur area. After a gap, she might be reposted at her last place of posting. It was alleged that she has close links with the top officials and she used to take the money in the name of minister and director of the mining department.”
She along with mining guard Pal Singh and clerk Aman were arrested by the vigilance bureau, red handed. The trio was caught while taking the bribe at Simarpreet Kaur Dhillon’s office in Phase 7, Mohali. Dhillon holds the additional charge of crushers in Mohali. A case was registered at the Vigilance Bureau police station in Mohali.
After her arrest, Punjab Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) Justice Mehtab Singh Gill (retd) has asked the Vigilance Bureau to initiate a probe, after the statement of Dhillon, in which she claimed that she was giving a cut in the bribe to senior officials in the department. Justice Gill said the aspect needed to be probed further.
Even AAP MLA from Ropar Amarjeet Singh Sandoa had also been complaining against her. Sandoa claimed that in the past three years, he wrote at least ten letters to the authorities concerned, including the chief minister, complaining about the rampant corruption by the officer, but no action was taken against her. Sandoa alleged that she used to take the money in the name of minister and director of the mining department.
After her arrest, Mohali Vigilance Bureau officials had said that “the suspects used to take bribes from illegal crusher owners at Anandpur Sahib on a monthly basis. On a complaint of a harassed crusher owner of Anandpur Sahib, a raid was conducted and the suspects were caught red-handed.”
Suspended mining officer who rocked the state seeks reinstatement .It was alleged that “Dhillon had created terror in the area and was considered the most corrupt person in the department.”
June 17,2021
