TNR News Network
KANGRA: The Himachal Pradesh Police, accompanied by officials from the Mining Department and Pollution Control Board, raided a stone crusher owned by Praveen Sharma, uncle of Hamirpur BJP MLA Ashish Sharma.
The raid took place at Pung Khad in Hamirpur district and led to the seizure of allegedly illegally mined stone, gravel and multiple heavy machines.
Praveen Sharma condemned the raid, alleging that officials entered the premises without a warrant, intimidated workers and took away the CCTV hard drive. “They are calling pre-existing stock illegal. The crusher had been closed for some time and all the material was documented and reported to the department concerned beforehand,” he said.
He alleged that one Poclain excavator, four dumpers (tippers), one concrete mixer and two JCB machines were seized.
Sharma claimed that some of the seized machinery, including a JCB with punctured tyres and two tippers, was non-functional.
Hamirpur SP Bhagat Singh Thakur confirmed the seizure and said while some workers initially fled during the raid, they later cooperated with the investigation. “The seized material is in police custody. The investigation will be impartial and all sides will be heard,” he said.
Incidentally, the raid has led to heightened political tensions in Hamirpur, which is also the home district of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.
Chief Minister Sukhu had accused Ashish Sharma of being part of “Operation Lotus” to topple the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh early in 2024.
It was on February 27, 2024, that six Congress dissident MLAs — Sudhir Sharma (Dharamshala), ID Lakhanpal (Barsar), Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur), Ravi Thakur (Lahaul-Spiti), Chaitanya Sharma (Gagret) and Devender Bhutto (Kutlehar) — voted in favour of Harsh Mahajan, the surprise BJP candidate for the Rajya Sabha election. Three Independent MLAs — Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur), Hoshyar Singh (Dehra) and KL Thakur (Nalagarh) — too supported the BJP, ensuring a major upset for the ruling Congress. Congress nominee Abhishek Singhvi was defeated.
Ashish Sharma subsequently won the Hamirpur seat again in the bypoll on a BJP ticket.
