Illegal mining in Ropar district is emerging as a major political flashpoint ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections, with the Congress intensifying its attack on the ruling AAP government over alleged irregularities in mining operations.On Saturday evening, former Speaker of the Punjab Assembly and senior Congress leader KP Rana confronted Mining Department officials at a naka in Nangal town, where tippers carrying mined material from Himachal Pradesh were being charged a border area infrastructure cess. Rana questioned the legality and transparency of the collection process, alleging that a substantial portion of the money collected was not reaching the government exchequer.During the confrontation, the person collecting the cess claimed that he was a data entry operator in the Mining Department and had been assigned the duty of collecting Rs 3,000 per tipper entering Punjab from Himachal Pradesh. He further claimed that the daily collection at the Nangal naka amounted to approximately Rs 3 lakh.Rana questioned how a data entry operator could be entrusted with collecting such a substantial amount without the presence of a senior departmental officer. He said that if the department was authorised to collect the cess, at least a junior engineer-level officer should be deployed at the spot to supervise the process.He also alleged that the naka had been established on a narrow stretch of road, resulting in long queues of tippers and creating an accident-prone situation. Questioning the security arrangements, he asked why police personnel had been deployed to protect a collection point where, according to him, only a data entry operator was collecting the cess.“Has the government authorised data entry operators to collect toll? The government should make public the amount being collected from tippers entering Punjab from Himachal Pradesh,” Rana said. He alleged that officials and people in power were pocketing a substantial portion of the collection.Mining Department Executive Engineer Bhavuk Sharma did not respond to calls and WhatsApp messages seeking his response to the allegations.The confrontation in Nangal came a day after former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi visited a mining site in the Nurpur area near Anandpur Sahib, travelling in a tipper along with his supporters and cameramen to document the alleged activity.Channi claimed that large-scale illegal mining was taking place in the district, particularly at night. Subsequently, while addressing a press conference in Chandigarh, he alleged that close relatives of a minister in the present government were collecting money from illegal mining operations in Ropar district.Ropar has emerged as a major centre of mining-related activity in Punjab. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed environmental compensation of approximately Rs 630 crore on several stone crusher owners in the district in connection with illegal mining. The amount, according to the information available, is yet to be recovered by the state government.With the Congress turning illegal mining into a key political issue, the controversy is expected to intensify as the Assembly elections draw closer.Meanwhile, sources said the ruling AAP was also examining old records to counter the Congress offensive by highlighting the alleged stakes of Congress leaders in the mining business.The latest developments have brought the focus not only on allegations of illegal mining but also on enforcement mechanisms and the accountability of officials overseeing mining-related activities in the district.