09092025-LT-01.qxd 9/9/2025 12:51 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune TAMIL NADU, PUNJAB BOYS STORM INTO FINALS PUNJABIS ARE KNOWN FOR SOCIAL SERVICE: SALMAN Tamil Nadu boys’ and girls’ teams won semifinals to advance into final in junior national basketball meet. P2 Bollywood actor Salman Khan expressed his solidarity and concern for the people in North India. P4 » » FORMER US PREZ BARACK OBAMA WINS THIRD EMMY He earned the award for his narration in Netflix's Our Oceans, a series that explores the wonders of oceans. P4 » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 32°C | MIN 24°C YESTERDAY MAX 31°C | MIN 25°C SUNSET TUESDAY 6.35 PM SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 6:04 AM TUESDAY | 9 SEPTEMBER 2025 | LUDHIANA 159 unsafe buildings, tragedies waiting to happen in city areas Spread across all four municipal zones, these pose serious risks to residents, passers-by with the rains heightening the risks of collapse. A senior MC official said town planning staff had been instructed to conduct a citywide safety audit recently. Following the survey, notices were formally dispatched to all property owners concerned, urging swift action. In many parts of the city, particularly around Chaura Bazaar and its adjoining markets, the situation is dire. Ageing buildings in areas such as Chauri Sadak, Field Ganj, Daresi, Jawahar Nagar Camp, Gill Road, Lakkar Bazaar, Moti Nagar, Amarpura, and Tajpur Road are now on the radar for urgent attention. These old and weakened structures have been described by officials as “ticking time bombs”, waiting to cause a disaster. Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, September 8 The Town Planning Department in Ludhiana had in the recent past wrapped up its inspection of unsafe structures across the city, flagging a total of 159 buildings that are now considered hazardous. Despite the same, the Municipal Corporation has limited its role by pasting notices and are not taking any interest in demolishing the unsafe structures. Recently after a big portion of the ancestral house of businessman Anand Mahindra collapsed, the remaining portion was still hanging. It is yet to be demolished to prevent any tragedy in the future. Spread across all four municipal zones, these buildings pose serious safety risks to residents and passers-by. As per information, Zone D tops the list with 55 unsafe buildings, followed by Zone A, the area encompassing much of the old city, where 48 such structures have been found. Zone C accounts for 35, and Zone B with 21 structures. These numbers mark a shift from the previous survey carried out in 2021, when Zone A had the highest count 3 attempt to rob youth, one caught by residents Tribune News Service HEALTH & WELLNESS The Tribune is starting a Q and A column to address your health-related queries. Please mail your questions (not exceeding 40 words) at healthandwellness@tribunemail.com. The Tribune’s panel of doctors will answer all your healthrelated concerns. File FIR against owners: Traders Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, September 8 A day after a multi-storey commercial complex collapsed in the Ghake Shah Mill area near Vishwakarma Chowk here, the business community having offices and shops in the area demanded immediate registration of an FIR against the owners of the building. They even demanded that MC officials who allowed the construction of the illegal building should also face departmental as well police action. Vijay Sood, a chartered accountant, whose building is situated opposite the collapsed structure, said on Sunday morning he had already apprised MC officials through a written complaint about the issue and a few hours after the complaint, the building col- lapsed. He said the MC officials had reached the scene when the complex fell like a house of cards and fortunately no one suffered any injury. Sood claimed that the building had collapsed around 4 pm on Sunday and its debris had also damaged electricity poles and caused complete blackout in the area. Till now, the PSPCL has not restored the electricity supply despite its officials were informed about the damages to the power poles. Raman Yadav, a trader in the locality, said building owners should not be spared at any cost. Rather, the MC should lodge a complaint against building owners to the police and seek immediate FIR for putting the lives of area residents in danger. “The building has reportedly two to three owners and they must be well connected politically. We, as the business community, will lodged a police complaint against the building owners,” he said. A labourer said quarters of migrants labourers were also built behind the building and the same were vacated as the remaining portion of the building may fall on the same. Meanwhile, MC officials said the building owners had to get the remaining portion demolished at their own level. “We are scanning the MC records to get detail of the owners and then, a notice will be issued to the owners. If the owners fail to demolish the building and the remaining portion causes any injury or property loss to somebody, the owners will be held responsible for the same,” they said. A portion of a building that collapsed in Thapar Mohalla on Sunday evening. HIMANSHU MAHAJAN at 64 unsafe buildings, while Zones B, C, and D had 21, 38, and 33, respectively. Most of the buildings flagged in the new report are residential properties, many of which are still occupied. Shockingly, despite clear risks, tenants continue to stay in the dilapidated structures — some even unknowingly. An official from the Municipal Corporation (MC) revealed that in many cases, tenants are still residing in these unsafe houses. In many cases, legal disputes are going on between tenants and property owners. In such a situation, the civic body’s hands are tied, with the only immediate recourse being to serve notices to the owners. The civic body has issued these notices under Section 273 of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976, warning property owners to either carry out necessary repairs or demolish the buildings altogether. Officials said failing to do so would make the owners directly liable for any future accidents or structural failures, especially Another structure collapses in Thapar Mohalla On Sunday evening, a portion of another building had collapsed in Thapar Mohalla. Fortunately, no loss of lives or injury to any person was reported. The old building was lying abandoned for the past many years. The total count of buildings collapsed in the past few days in the city has reached eight. Debris of the building that collapsed on Sunday is yet to be removed. HIMANSHU MAHAJAN Floods: Farmers reject ~20K Floods in state man-made disaster, per acre compensation not natural calamity, says committee Tribune News Service Ludhiana, September 8 Three miscreants attempted to rob a youth riding a bicycle in the meat market located near the railway bridge. One of the suspects took the money from his pocket at sword-point. The victim said during the incident, the robbers were walking on foot with a sword. When he reached near them on a bicycle, they surrounded him. They asked him to take out money from his pockets. One of them forcefully took out the money from his pocket. When he tried to raise the alarm, he threatened to severe his neck. He said he managed to raise the alarm, following which some residents showed courage and caught one of the miscreants, who took money from the victim, while two of them managed to flee the scene. The residents said they called the police several times and later, they reached the scene and took away the man to the police station. The police assured that action would be taken against the suspect and his two accomplices would also be identified and nabbed. It could be possible that the miscreants might have committed such incidents in Jagraon city. COLLAPSE OF ILLEGAL COMMERCIAL COMPLEX Ludhiana, September 8 The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Kadian) has rejected the state government’s announcement of Rs 20,000 per acre compensation for crop damages caused by recent floods, calling it “grossly inadequate.” The union has demanded a minimum of Rs 1 lakh per acre relief and a Rs 10-lakh grant for families of deceased flood victims. The demand was raised during a meeting held here under the leadership of union state president Harmit Singh Kadian. Farmers’ representatives criticised the government’s relief measures and insisted that meaningful action should follow consultations with farmer unions. The union also dismissed the current Rs 4 lakh com- Call it ‘grossly inadequate’, seek ~1 lakhper acre, ~10L grant for kin of deceased pensation for deceased individuals, arguing that it should be raised to Rs 10 lakh, especially since the state’s health insurance scheme already offers free treatment up to Rs 10 lakh. Expressing concern over the widespread damage caused by floods, the BKU (Kadian) accused the state government of failing to support the affected resident and urged immediate release of pending sugarcane payments to help farmers meet their urgent needs. The meeting concluded with a resolution that once the flood situation stabilises, the BKU (Kadian) will assist farmers in preparing land and sowing the next crop, with district-level leaders assigned to coordinate efforts. The farmer leaders also praised relief efforts by Sukhbir Singh Badal, Khalsa Aid, and prominent personalities from the film industry, Punjabi singers and social organisations, acknowledging their support for floodaffected communities. The union condemned the state government’s for not having a concrete policy and criticised political leaders for focusing on photo opportunities rather than real action. They also demanded immediate loan waivers for the affected farmers, rather than mere deferments. Moves NGT, seeks independent audit of BBMB, state government ops Ludhiana, September 8 In a strongly worded press meet, members of the Public Action Committee (PAC) alleged that the recent floods in the state were not a natural calamity but a man-made disaster, aggravated by systemic negligence in dam operations by the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) and the state government. Addressing mediapersons, Kuldeep Singh Khaira and Er Kapil Arora highlighted that despite a historic inflow of 797,800 cusecs during the 1988 floods, the full reservoir levels (FRL) of Bhakra and Pong dams remain unchanged at 1680 ft and 1390 ft, respectively. They pointed out that the Central Water Commission had recommended revising these levels in its 2014 report, but the BBMB continues to Members of the PAC address the media in Ludhiana on Monday. follow the outdated 1990 Rule Curve, as confirmed in a Rajya Sabha reply. Jaskirat Singh and Dr. Amandeep Singh Bains noted that though the BBMB claims to have adopted a new Rule Curve, the FRLs remain static. They argued that if the new curve was truly based on probable maximum flood (PMF) parameters, it should have allowed safe discharge of 797,800 cusecs without downstream flooding. Instead, premature releases from Bhakra and Pong triggered severe floods even before the reservoirs reached their designated FRLs. The PAC members further revealed that during the 2023 floods, data from the BBMB website clearly indicated human error. Despite submitting representations to the Central and state governments demanding accountability, the data was removed from public access. In August this year, the PAC obtained fresh data and IMD warnings, prompting them to serve a demand notice to the BBMB to lower reservoir levels. BBMB, however, continued filling the dams till August 18, leading to predictable consequences. Dr Bains and Khaira also blamed the state government for failing to act in the matter. They cited illegal mining, river encroachments and neglected bandh repairs post2023 as factors worsening the crisis. The floods have severely impacted biodiversity, wildlife and tree cover. The PAC has now given a petition moved the National Green Tribunal (NGT), seeking an independent audit of the BBMB and state government operations and compensation for affected citizens as per Supreme Court precedents. — TNS MC chief conducts inspection, suspends sanitary supervisor over lack of cleanliness Ludhiana, September 8 While conducting a surprise inspection in different areas of the city to ensure cleanliness on Monday, Municipal Corporation (MC) Commissioner Aaditya Dachalwal suspended a sanitary supervisor (lambardar) over lack of cleanliness in his area. He also issued strict warning to sanitary inspectors (SI), sanitary supervisors and other field staff to ensure cleanliness in their respective areas, otherwise, strict department action would be taken against them. Accompanied by MC Joint Commissioner Abhishek Sharma, Dachalwal conducted inspection on Pakhowal Road, cremation ground road in Model Town extension, Dugri road, Gill Road, in Model Town Gol market, Jammu Colony, Abdullapur Basti and Atam Nagar, besides other areas. Health officer Vipal Malhotra and CSI Surinder Dogra were among other officials present during the inspection. Witnessing lack of cleanli- ness in Jammu Colony and the Abdullapur Basti area, the MC Commissioner ordered suspension of the sanitary supervisor (lambardar) of the area, Neeraj Sabhao. He said strict directions had already been issued to staff of the Health Department to ensure cleanliness across the city. He had been conducting inspections in the city to take stock of the situation and surprise inspections would be continued in coming days also. The staff had also been directed to take action c m y b against illegal slaughtering of animals and issue challans against violators. In August, the civic body chief had also suspended a lambardar over lack of cleanliness on the Chandigarh road while show-cause notices were issued to the employee and the CSI over lack of cleanliness in the area around the Dandi Swami chowk. Meanwhile, the MC Commissioner has appealed to residents to support the MC in keeping the city clean and stop dumping of waste in open areas. — TNS MC Commissioner Aaditya Dachalwal and other officials during an inspection of an area in Ludhiana.