21022024-ATR-01.qxd 2/21/2024 12:25 AM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY SKY 33K STUDENTS GET FRUIT IN MID-DAY MEAL IN BARNALA ACTRESS KIARA ADVANI JOINS RANVEER SINGH IN DON 3 ANUPAMAA ACTOR RITURAJ DIES OF CARDIAC ARREST Kinnow was distributed among 33,000 students of government schools in Barnala district. P3 Kiara Advani has come on board for the third instalment of the actionthriller film Don. P4 MAX 21°C | MIN 10°C YESTERDAY MAX 24°C | MIN 13°C Noted actor Rituraj Singh (59), who appeared on TV shows such as Anupamaa, passed away at his. P4 » » SUNSET WEDNESDAY 6.21 PM » SUNRISE THURSDAY 7.06 AM WEDNESDAY | 21 FEBRUARY 2024 | AMRITSAR Two held while trying to flee after robbery DTF condemns Edu Dept for delaying promotions of teachers Our Correspondent Tribune News Service Tarn Taran, February 20 The local city police arrested two robbers from near Jarmasatpur village who were absconding after committing a robbery incident on Monday. ASI Manjinder Singh said that the accused have been identified as Pargat Singh Pagga of Gill Waraich and Sikandar Singh Sanni of Bakipur village. The police official said that the accused robbed one Gurjant Singh, a resident of Bhaini Matttuan. The victim Gurjant Singh was on his motor-cycle and was coming to Tarn Taran when the accused stopped him near Jarmasatpur village. The robbers took away Rs 1,500 in cash by threatening him with a sharp weapon. ASI Manjinder Singh said that the accused have been booked under Section 379-B (2) and 34 of IPC by the city police, Tarn Taran. Amritsar, February 20 Teachers, upset over pending promotions, have called out the Education Department for its poor policy-making. The district unit of Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF), in line with its Punjab chapter, claimed that several teachers with more than 10-13 years of service, have not been given any promotion despite being eligible. “They are on the verge of retirement; some of them have been living on meagre salaries and are highly qualified. This is gross injustice,” said Ashwani Awasthi, DTF state finance secretary and district unit head. The DTF has raised these issues previously with the department and received a letter of invitation for a meeting with the Education Minister on February 28 at Punjab Bhavan, Chandigarh. Meanwhile, 5994 ETT and 1158 assistant SKM flays police action, begins protest at BJP leaders’ houses Kathunangal, Chiddan toll plazas made free for commuters Tribune News Service Members of the DTF raise slogans against the Education Department in Amritsar on Tuesday. TRIBUNE PHOTO professors also participated in sit-ins held at Education Minister Harjot Bains’ village and demanded that the recruitment process be completed. Awasthi said that ETT recruitments have been relegated to the back-burner by the Education Department. Pending promotion of Master Cadre teachers to lecturer, headmas- ter, principals and pending promotions of non-teaching cadres are also waiting for approval, causing a financial loss to the eligible candidates. “Instead of taking up the cases of teachers, who are deprived of annual proficiency promotion, the Education Department is deliberately ignoring the matter,” said Awasthi. Amritsar, February 20 Farmers under the banner of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) began a three-day protest in front of the residences of local BJP leaders, Amarpal Singh Boney and Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, from today. Meanwhile, the three toll plazas —- Kathunangal on Amritsar-Gurdaspur national highway, Chiddan on Amritsar-Attari highway and Manawala on Amritsar-Attari route have also been made free for commuters by the farmers for the past four days. Hundreds of farmers demonstrated in front of the houses of BJP leaders Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina and Amarpal Singh Boney Ajnala in Ranjit Avenue fol- CKD office-bearers take charge Tarn Taran hospital gets Hepatitis C drug supply Our Correspondent The newly elected team of the CKD pays obeisance at a gurdwara in Amritsar on Tuesday. TRIBUNE PHOTO Amritsar, February 20 The newly elected office-bearers of Chief Khalsa Diwan (CKD), including president Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar, vicepresidents Santokh Singh Sethi and Jagjit Singh, resident president Kuljit Singh Sahni, honorary secretaries Swinder Singh Kathunangal and Ramneek Singh Freedom took charge of their responsibilities at the CKD head office today. Earlier, members of the management paid obeisance at CKD Gurdwara Sri Kalgidhar Sahib. The CKD management appointed Sukhjinder Singh Prince as additional honorary secretary and head office member-in-charge, Jaspal Singh Dhillon as additional honorary secretary and Jaspal Singh as joint secretary. The team expressed its commitment to take Chief Khalsa Diwan to the pinnacle of glory by working with team spirit. Rajmohinder Singh Majitha, Surinderjit Singh Pal, Gurbaksh Singh Bedi, Rajinder Singh Marwaha and a large number of other members of CKD were present on the occasion. — TNS Tarn Taran, February 20 The Health Department, Punjab, has sent the stock of drugs for Hepatitis C disease, which was not available at the Civil Hospital for over the last four months. Owing to the non-availability of the medicine, patients were an inconvenienced lot. The department sent the medicine after the issue was highlighted in these columns on February 11. Dr Kanwaljit Singh, Senior Medical Officer, Civil Hospital, confirmed here on Tuesday that the supply of medicine has been received by the hospital and all the patients have been informed of it. Dr Kanwaljit Singh said around 321 patients were taking the medicine before the supply ran out and during the past four months, 273 more persons were diagnosed with the disease. The SMO said after the medicine supply was received by the hospital, all the patients were informed on their contact numbers. The SMO said so far, 91 patients have come to take medicine from the hospital. The SMO said the old patients would be asked to undergo tests again as many of them may have been cured. The SMO informed the patients of the availability of the medicine and advised them to come to the hospital to get the medicine during the working hours. The medicine is available only at the Civil Hospital, Tarn Taran. Social activist Gurbhej Singh, former sarpanch of Plasaur village, had also taken up the issue with officials of the district administration many times. Farmers during a protest in front of the residences of two local BJP leaders at Ranjit Avenue in Amritsar on Tuesday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR in Delhi several times during the past decades but no government stopped them by using this much force. The farmers are demanding legal guarantee for the minimum support price (MSP) by enacting a law, debt waiver, implementation of Swaminathan Commission report and restoring of subsidies on fertilisers and pesticides. But the government is not ready,” said Chinna. The farmers while demonstrating outside the houses of BJP leaders also demanded proper management of stray animals, setting up of agrobased industries, supply of 16 essential commodities through depots, end to privatisation and enhancing of pension amount to Rs 10,000 per month for the disabled, widows and old persons. lowing a call given by the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha. Addressing a gathering on the occasion, Jatinder Singh Chhina of Kirti Kisan Union said that lobbing tear gas shells, torturing and stopping farmers from going toward Delhi by the Haryana govern- ment was a highly condemnable act. He said that the Constitution of the country allows people to protest peacefully for their rightful demands, but the government was violating the Constitution by oppressing the farmers. “The farmers demonstrated One held with 200-gm heroin, two pistols Man ‘murders’ wife for objecting to illicit affair Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 20 The city police nabbed a drug peddler with 200 grams of heroin, two pistols, three bullets, a car and ~30,500 drug money. The accused has been identified as Jaspal Singh (23), alias Prince, a resident of Guru Ram Das Colony, Naraingarh (Chheharta), Amritsar. Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Investigation), Amritsar, Navjot Singh stated that on the directions of Assistant Commissioner of Police (Investigation) Kuldeep Singh, a team led by Inspector Rajesh Kumar, CIA Staff-2, arrested a drug peddler. The police recovered 200 grams of heroin, two pistols, three live rounds of .32 bore, ~30,500 continued on page 2 Amritsar, February 20 A woman was allegedly killed by her husband after brutally thrashing and pushing her from the rooftop of the house at Rajpur Butala village falling under the Beas police station area here on Monday. The police have arrested the accused, identified as Kuldeep Singh, and a case under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered against him in this connection. Sarabjit Singh, brother of the victim, told the police that her sister Rani (37) was married to Kuldeep Singh around 16 years ago. The couple had two children from the marriage. He alleged the accused was an addict and had illicit relations with a woman. This led to constant dispute as she used to oppose it. He said a number of times, the village panchayat and elderly people had intervened to settle the dispute, but Kuldeep Singh did not mend his ways. He used to threaten to kill her. He said yesterday they got a call from her sister-in-law that the accused had brutally thrashed Rani and pushed her from the rooftop leading to her death. He said initially they did not believe, but another relative of theirs confirmed her death. SHO Gurwinder Singh said the accused was arrested from the spot. He said the victim’s body was handed over to the family after an autopsy. A probe is Minhal Hasan (C), festival head & director, Sacred Amritsar, addresses mediapersons in Amritsar. Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 20 The three-day cultural festival, Sacred Amritsar, will be organised from February 2325. Teamwork Arts, supported by Rangla Punjab, announced its second edition of the event to celebrate mystic-poets and their enduring verses through multiple events. Festival Head and Director, Minhal Hasan, shared, “The idea behind Sacred Amritsar is to celebrate mystic poets from across India and their timeless verses. We aim to emphasise poetry as a deeply evocative form of art, serving as universal language that resonates with all of us. The festi- val is a heartfelt tribute to the multifaceted and diverse nature of the historically rich city of Amritsar. The core idea is to celebrate Amritsar in all its dimensions, embracing history, cultural diversity, and the spirit of its people.” He further added that through carefully curated programming, an attempt to pay homage to the city’s essence, from classical to contemporary, has been made. This year, the featured artist-singer-poets include Swanand Kirkire and Kausar Munir, Dastaan-Goi artists Himanshu Bajpai and Pragya Sharma, Punjabi folk singer Bir Singh, musician Jasleen Aulakh, bands Faridkot and Murshidabadi Project, and more. The festival goes beyond performances, offering activities such as heritage walks, a visit to the Golden Temple, literary discourse, and more.” Notable authors who will be part of some of sessions at the festival include Kishwar Desai, Navdeep Suri, Seema Kohli, and Sanjoy K Roy. The festival will be hosted at multiple venues as per schedule including The Earth, Partition Museum and Gobindgarh Fort. The festival’s conclusion at Gobindgarh Fort promises an enchanting musical affair, featuring William Dalrymple’s Kohinoor recital, local school performances, soulful rendition of Murshidabadi Project, and a performance by Faridkot. Commissioner pays surprise visit to MC head office Unauthorised pvt driving training schools have a free run in city VB nabs cop for accepting ~3,000 in bribe Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Three-day cultural festival ‘Sacred Amritsar’ begins on February 23 Amritsar, February 20 There has been a mushrooming of unauthorised private operators who give driving lessons on the busiest roads in Amritsar. Yet only six driving training centres are registered with the Regional Transport Office (RTO) here. Notably, all of them function without any supervision of government authorities. In the absence of a motor driving training centre, these private instructors impart driving lessons on public roads. A resident Surinderjit Singh said that unscientific imparting of training to new learners as a major reason for rising road accidents is a fact that has been considered lately by the government. It was on June 7, 2021 that the Union government modified the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act (2019), Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989 vide notification number 394(E) to make driving training scientific and systematic through accredited centres which are yet to be set up and operated by private companies. “In this scenario, the aspiring learners are helpless Amritsar, February 20 The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Tuesday nabbed Nishan Singh, senior constable, posted at Green Avenue police post, Amritsar city, for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 3,000. A VB spokesperson said in a statement that Nishan Singh was arrested on the basis of a complaint lodged by Rajinder Singh, a resident of Navi Abadi, Amritsar. The complainant approached the VB alleging that the senior constable had been demanding Rs 3,000 as bribe in lieu of releasing his vehicle on ‘sapurdari’ in a theft case. He said the VB, Amritsar Range, after a preliminary investigation of the complaint, laid a trap and the said police official was arrested while accepting the bribe from the complainant in the presence of two official witnesses. The VB team recovered the bribe money from his possession on the spot. A case under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been registered against the accused at the VB police station. The accused would be produced in court tomorrow. — TNS Amritsar, February 20 The MC Commissioner on Tuesday conducted inspection of the head office of the municipal corporation and found a washroom in a pathetic condition, besides poor seating arrangements. He issued instructions to ensure proper sanitation and seating arrangements in the office. Harpreet Singh said the employees are the backbone of the municipal corporation and their seating arrangements should be proper and necessary furniture was also necessary for the maintenance of records. Apart from this, every day thousands of city dwellers come to the office for their work and the bathrooms on every floor should always be kept clean. He said instructions have been given to maintain cleanliness in the offices and proper records. Besides, instructions have been issued to install necessary sanitary ware in the bathrooms, built continued on page 2 c m y b Tribune News Service A driving training centre being run from the roadside in Amritsar. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR and enlist themselves with unauthorised centres,” he said. Malkiat Singh, who met with a road accident due to a rashly driven car some years back, demanded thorough training for persons before being allowed to drive on main roads. He expressed his displeasure that cars used to impart driving lessons are plied on main roads along with regular vehicles. He added that it seriously jeopardised the safety of commuters. The practice can be observed on busy roads like Ranjit Avenue, GT road, bypass roads and colonies located along them, he said A majority of these unauthorised driving centres do not have simulators to give beginners a proper initiation. Yet they draw a good number of customers as they charge about Rs 1,500 for a 14-day course while authorised training centres charge about Rs 5,000 for the same duration course.
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