12052024-ATR-01.qxd 5/12/2024 12:53 AM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune CONDOLENCES POUR IN FOR FAMED PUNJABI POET-WRITER SURJIT PATAR Condolences continue to pour in as the news of Padma Shri poet Surjit Patar’s demise broke out early Saturday morning. P2 » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY LADY GAGA’S CONCERT FILM SET TO PREMIERE AFTER TWO-YEAR WAIT MUSINGS ON MOTHERHOOD: INSPIRING TITLES TO STREAM THIS MOTHER’S DAY In celebration of this sacred bond this Mother’s Day, we invite readers to tune into a curated selection of enriching titles. P4 Nearly 2 yrs after its initial announcement, Lady Gaga’s highly anticipated Chromatica Ball concert film is set to premiere . P4 » » MAX 35°C | MIN 25°C YESTERDAY MAX 35°C | MIN 24°C SUNSET SUNDAY 7.18 PM SUNRISE MONDAY 5:34 AM SUNDAY | 12 MAY 2024 | AMRITSAR Drug peddlers sent to 2-day police remand Amritsar, May 11 Two drug peddlers arrested by the Amritsar (Rural) police with 510 grams of heroin yesterday were produced before a duty magistrate on Saturday. They were sent to two-day police custody for further interrogation. Those arrested were identified as Akashbir Singh of Naushehra Dhalla, Tarn Taran, and Banty of Khapar Kheri in Amritsar. The police seized a mobile phone and a bike from them. Satinder Singh, SSP Amritsar (Rural), said the police were probing their links to whom they used to deliver drug consignments. Preliminary probe revealed that the duo had links with Qasim Dhillon, who had smuggled contraband into the Indian territory with the help of drones. — TNS Year on, lane heading from GNDU to Employeesgetlastchance to give explanation for Khalsa College yet to be re-carpeted absence from poll duty Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 11 A service lane heading from Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) to Putlighar Chowk dug up by authorities several months ago is yet to be re-carpeted. The commuters are a harried lot as many of them have been involved in accidents on this stretch. The lane assumes importance as major educational institutions, including Khalsa College, Khalsa College for Women and three Khalsa schools are located here. However, after digging the lane, the authorities concerned didn’t even level its surface. Students and teachers of educational institutes Commuters drive on a broken service lane in Amritsar on Saturday. PHOTO: SUNIL KUMAR claimed that two- wheeler riders often met with accidents on this lane. Ranbir Kaur, a resident, said after digging the road to lay pipelines on the side lane heading from the GNDU to Putlighar Chowk, the authorities left it as it was. More than year had passed, but the road was not re-carpeted. She said, “The stretch in front of Khalsa Col- lege is teeming with potholes. It seems that the authorities are waiting for some major accident on this stretch. It is a horrendous task to drive on the road. Development at the cost of lives is ironic.” Rakesh Kumar, a resident of Guru Nanakpura said, “The service lane witnesses heavy traffic as there is no “cut” on the central verge of the main road. So students and teachers from university to Khalsa College for Women take the lane to reach their destinations. The municipal corporation should re-carpet the road. The cost of re-carpeting should be recovered from the agency, which dug up the road. There should be a time limit for the completion of the project.” Womanseriouslyhurtin Major fire breaks out at Bhagtanwala dump snatching attempt by 2 bike-borne persons Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, May 11 A woman was seriously injuried when she resisted two bike-borne persons attempt to snatch her purse here on Friday afternoon. The victim, identified as Shanti Devi, is a resident of Ranjit Avenue, Amritsar. She was travelling in an erickshaw along her woman relative. As she was busy talking to someone on her mobile phone, two bikeborne persons tried to snatch her purse near the Civil Hospital. When the victim resisted bike-borne persons attempt to snatch her purse, she fell down Resident of Haryana village arrested with country-made pistol Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 11 The Galliara police have arrested a weapon smuggler identified as Jasbir Singh (21), a resident of Kharak Ramji village in Jind district of Haryana, and recovered a countrymade .32 bore pistol along with four live cartridges and two empty shells from his possession. According to the police, he frequently visited Amritsar for paying obeisance at the Golden temple. The police said the suspect used to do sewa at the Jora Ghar of the holy Sikh shrine. In February, the suspect was booked for attacking and burning a cigarette kiosk in the Guru Bazaar area of the city. He went back to Haryana after the incident and returned to the city a couple of days ago, said Dr Darpan Ahluwalia, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police. She said the weapon was sourced from Uttar Pradesh and investigation was in progress to identify accomplices of Jasbir Singh. from the e-rickshaw. Four of her teeth were broken in the tussle with snatchers and she received injuries on her forehead, mouth and other parts of the body. The victim was admitted to the Civil Hospital from where she was referred to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, Amritsar, keeping in view her serious condition. Assistant sub-inspector Gurmeet Singh said a case under Section 379B (2) of the Indian Penal Code had been registered against the two suspects. The snatchers managed to escape from the spot despite heavy police deployment and patrolling in the area. Amritsar, May 11 High velocity winds led to a major fire at the Bhagtanwala garbage dump last night. Almost all heaps of garbage on 20 acre dumping ground caught fire which created a panicky situation in localities around the dump. The fire started around 10 pm and in a few minutes the whole dumping ground turned into “volcano”. High flames were visible from a distance of 2 km. Residents of nearby localities assembled on the Jhabaal road as they feared that fire would spread in the residential areas. Fire tenders of the municipal corporation (MC) reached the spot without any delay, but were unable to control high flames. Municipal Corporation Commissioner Harpreet Singh also reached the dump. Garbage burns at Bhagtanwala dump in Amritsar. TRIBUNE PHOTO The area residents claimed that garbage had been burning for the last several days at the dump. Though high flames were doused by firefighters on Wednesday evening, but the garbage kept simmering and the blaze flared up after the wind started flowing. Vehicles of the solid waste management firm and bioremediation machines were parked near the dump. The staff of the firm managed to drive away these vehicles to a safe place. Meanwhile, activists of the Sanji Sangharsh Committee struggling for shifting of the dump from the city protested against the state government, municipal corporation and the solid waste management firm. According to information, no senior official from the waste management firm visited the spot. Firefighters toiled hard in the wee hours today to bring the flames under control. “The fire stopped after the wind stopped blowing at midnight. Otherwise, fire brigade personnel were helpless in dousing the high flames. Around 19 metric tonnes of garbage is lying just one-anda-half kilometre away from the Golden Temple. Regular burning of garbage is polluting the air in city, but no efforts are being made by the authorities concerned to end this menace,” said Sanjay Kumar, a resident of Bhagtanwala locality. Joshi failed to solve dump issue during his tenure as minister: Aujla Amritsar, May 11 The fire incident at Bhagtanwala garbage dump has become a poll issue. Congress Lok Sabha candidate and MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla alleged that dump fire incident exposed former Cabinet Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate Anil Joshi’s development claims. Aujla said the state government and Anil Joshi were directly responsible for this. He said Joshi, who remained minister for 10 years, was not serious about the dump issue and that is why it could not be resolved. He said the public had BJP candidate Taranjit Singh Sandhu at the Bhagtanwala garbage dump in Amritsar on Saturday. TRIBUNE PHOTO responded to his false claims of development by defeating Joshi in the elections twice. Aujla said shifting of the Bhagtanwala dump was state government’s matter. Joshi was the Local Bodies Minister during the SADBJP regime and should have resolved it, he added. Aujla said people residing near the dump were suffering from many diseases. He said Joshi gave a 25-year contract to the company for his own benefit. When the Aam Aadmi Party government came to power in the state, it did not conduct municipal corporation elections for two years due to which problems in the city piled up. BJP candidate Taranjit Singh Sandhu today visited the dump site. He criticised the government for not shifting the dump. Sandhu said despite making tall promises, elected representatives had done nothing to solve problems related to the dump. He said, “I can understand the seriousness of the issue. I will take up the matter on priority basis. If the state government fails to find solution to the problem, then the matter would be taken up with the Central Government and funds brought in to resolve the issue.” Sandhu interacted with affected residents of localities near the dump. Residents told Sandhu that symptoms of many diseases were found during their medical check-ups. They claimed that it was difficult to breathe here. On the occasion, Sanji Sangharsh Committee members gave a memorandum to Sandhu.— TNS Amritsar, May 11 Taking serious note of officials/employees who did not report for their poll duties, District Election Officer-cumDeputy Commissioner Amritsar Ghanshyam Thori has given a last chance to hear them personally before taking legal and disciplinary action against them. At a meeting, Deputy Commissioner (DC) told officials/employees of various departments, who had been appointed as PROs/APROs/Polling Officers to complete the election work, but did not report for their duty, that they could avail this opportunity. At the meeting, Additional Election Officer-cum-Additional Deputy Commissioner, Jyoti Bala told Assistant Returning Officers about the notice issued by the office of the District Election Officer which stated that employees could give their explanation regarding their absence from duty. She said, “Despite multiple reminders, many officials/employees, have not appeared in response to the notice. Accordingly, one last chance has been given to these officials/employees to give explanation regarding their absence from poll duty on May 13 from 9 am to 5 pm at Guru Nanak Dev Auditorium, near Amritsar bus stand.” She further said, “If any official/employee does not reach the specified date/place to explain his absence from duty, it will be understood that he/she does not want to give any answer in this regard. Based on this, further departmental and legal action as per law will be initiated against the official/employee concerned by the District Election Officer, Amritsar. Committees have been formed to hear officials/employees explanation.” 12 except Congress, AAP aspirants filed nomination papers for Lok Sabha polls Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 11 With two more days to go, a total of 12 aspirants contesting the Lok Sabha (LS) elections from here have filed their nominations at the district election office. However, no new entrants in the political battle turned up at the election office on Saturday to file their papers. With May 14 as the last date for filing nominations, candidates would be able to submit their papers on coming Monday and Tuesday. Apart from others who might turn up, even candidates of the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have yet to submit their nominations. Of the bigwigs, Taranjit Singh Sandhu of the BJP and Anil Joshi of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) had filed their nominations yesterday. Congress candidate Gurjeet Singh Aujla and AAP candidate Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal have yet to file their nominations. Even SAD (Amritsar) candidate Iman Singh Mann has not filed his nomination papers so far. As per the Election Commission of India (ECI) guidelines, the scrutiny of nominations would be held on May 15 and candidates, who wish to withdraw from the political battle, would be able to do so till May 17. A total of 19.91 lakh voters would exercise their right to franchise on June 1 to elect their representative for the Lok Sabha. Meanwhile, the district administration has launched a toll free helpline 1950 to assist voters in getting details of their polling booths and block level officers (BLOs). Deputy Commissionercum-District Election Officer Ghanshyam Thori said, “Usually people are not aware of their booth number, its location and other details. A dedicated control room has been set up at the district administrative complex here which would assist callers in this regard.” Thori said voting would be a different experience for voters in this election as special arrangements were being made at all polling booths in view of the summer season. He said differently abled and senior citizens would get all assistance at these booths so that they could cast their vote without any inconvenience. PCC, sangharsh panel to hold protest 6.84 lakh MT wheat arrived in mandis of district Amritsar, May 11 Expressing their resentment, the Pollution Control Committee (PCC), an NGO, along with Sanjhi Sangharsh Committee and residents of localities situated near Bhagtanwala garbage dump, would protest on Tuesday near the dump site. In a peaceful protest, they would form a human chain to highlight the perils of the garbage dump that had become a nuisance for residents. Many resident of localities near dump had fallen sick due to air and land pollution caused by the dump site. Emission of methane gas leads to frequent fires in the dump. Dense smoke billowing from the dump spreads in nearby localities and causes respiratory problems and other health ailments among residents. In a communiqué to the Deputy Commissioner and the Municipal Corporation Commissioner seeking permission for the protest, Parkash Singh Bhatty, president, PCC, stated that the dump set up near the Bhagtanwala grain market was against the Municipal Solid waste (Management & Handling) Rules 2000 and amended rule of 2016. He pointed out that the dump was just 10 metres away from the railway line and was separated from the grain market by a wall constructed recently. He said during windy atmosphere, infected dirt particles fall on cleaned food grains before these were filled in bags. He said the final decision of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the public interest litigation filed in 2013 in this connection was yet to be implemented even after passing of 11 years. The assurance given by the administration, politicians and governments had proved futile while residents continued to suffer till today, he said. — TNS c m y b Harvesting season to end soon |Crop arrival to reduce in markets next week Amritsar, May 11 With the arrival of 11,667 metric tonnes (MT) of wheat in grain markets of the district on Saturday, the total arrival of the crop during the ongoing harvesting season has reached 6.84 lakh MT. As the wheat harvesting season is coming to an end, the daily arrival of the crop in grain markets has also decreased. When the harvesting season was at its peak, grain markets witnessed daily arrival of over 50,000 MT of wheat. Officials of the mandi board said presently, most crop Labourers load wheat bags on a tractor-trailer at Bhagtanwala Dana Mandi in Amritsar. SUNIL KUMAR arriving in grain markets was being brought by farmers, who had harvested it earlier, but could not bring it to due to one or other reason. Officials said the daily arrival of wheat would further decrease during the next week. Of the total crop arrived in mandis so far, 6.83 lakh MT had already been procured. While the government agencies pro- cured a total of 6.30 lakh MT of wheat, private buyers share in the purchase was 52,688 MT. Officials said on Saturday evening, only 1,062 MT was left unsold in mandis. — TNS
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