Sand mafia runs UP, MP governments: Digvijaya

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Monday came down heavily on the Uttar Pradesh government over the suspension of a woman IAS officer, who had clamped down on illegal mining in the state.

He alleged that the sand mafia was running governments in UP and Madhya Pradesh.

"Sand Mafia is operating not only under the present government in UP but even under the previous regime. This is the same sand mafia, which is working in Madhya Pradesh. The sand mafia is running governments in UP and MP," Singh told media persons in New Delhi.

The Samajwadi Party is supporting the UPA government from outside.

A 2009-batch IAS officer posted as Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Gautam Budh Nagar in September last year, 28-year-old Durga Shakti Nagpal, who had taken on the powerful sand mafia in Uttar Pradesh, was suspended barely 10 months after she got her first posting in the state.

Slamming the SP government, Opposition parties have alleged that the suspension order was made under pressure from the mining mafia.

"It is an administrative decision. She had ordered demolition of the wall at a place of worship," Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had said on Twitter.

Reacting sharply to the SDM's suspension, BJP leader Kalraj Mishra had said that the action of the state government showed "it does not like those officers who are leading the drive against the mafia".

Nagpal had led a crackdown on unauthorised mining in the district and got over two dozen FIRs registered against those involved in illegally removing sand.

Special flying squads were formed by her to stop the raging menace along the Yamuna and Hindon rivers in western UP.