23042026-ATR-01.qxd 4/22/2026 10:26 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY MAX 38°C | MIN 20°C YESTERDAY MAX 37°C | MIN 21°C ETHOS OF CLEANLINESS SWEEPS THROUGH GURU NAGRI AS MERCURY RISES, HEALTH DEPT FLAGS HEATSTROKE RISK DESI GIRL PRIYA KANSARA IN HOLLYWOOD ORBIT On Earth Day, the spirit of collective responsibility came alive as Ecoseva spearheaded an awareness rally. P2 With temperatures rising across the region, the Health Dept has urged residents to take precautions . P3 Project Hail Mary actor Priya nurtured acting dreams while studying molecular biology. P4 » » » SUNSET THURSDAY 7.04 PM SUNRISE FRIDAY 5:51 AM THURSDAY | 23 APRIL 2026 | AMRITSAR Smart City CCTV network being restored, online challaning soon Woman, who had deserted Sikh Jatha last yr, welcomes pilgrims in Pak Illegal arms smuggler held in Amritsar, 4 pistols seized Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Amritsar, April 22 Sarbjit Kaur, who had deserted a Sikh Jatha to marry a Pakistani national after converting to Islam, today uploaded a video message on social media, welcoming pilgrims from Punjab visiting Sikh shrines in Pakistan. Her social media post appeared three days after a 2,236-member strong Sikh jatha returned to their country after celebrating the Khalsa Sajna Diwas (birth anniversary of Khalsa Panth) and Baisakhi in Pakistan. She assured pilgrims from India that in Pakistan nobody forced any individual to convert to any other religion, and it was purely once own’s choice. She greeted Indian pilgrims with both Sat Sri Akal and ‘walikum assalam’ and invited them to visit Sikh shrines. After converting to Islam, she has adopted the name Noor Hussain. She had accompanied the jatha to Pakistan, which had gone to celebrate the birth anniversary of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak Dev, in November. Staying back, she married a Pakistani national after embracing Islam. Following this, the SGPC has now made it mandatory for solo woman pilgrims to submit an undertaking endorsed by multiple persons. Amritsar, April 22 The Counter Intelligence (CI) wing of Amritsar has arrested an alleged illegal arms smuggler and seized four sophisticated pistols, along with magazines, from his possession. The accused has been identified as Gurmukh Singh, a resident of Nangal Sohal village, falling under Ramdas police station here. According to police officials, he was actively involved in the smuggling of illegal arms and ammunition, allegedly in collaboration with a Pakistan-based smuggler identified as Faizal. Acting on specific intelligence input, police teams laid a naka near Gurdwara Morcha Sahib on the Amritsar-Ajnala road, where the accused was intercepted. A search led to the recovery of two sophisticated .30bore pistols and two 9mm Glock pistols, along with magazines. Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused had recently procured a consignment of arms from unknown individuals in Kalanaur, Gurdaspur, and was on his way to deliver the weapons to anoth- Pawan K Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, April 22 Toeing Chandigarh’s line, online challaning in Amritsar is likely to get a push as the police have started repairing defunct CCTV cameras installed under the Smart City project. The move is expected to streamline traffic management and enable automated action against violators. Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar pointed out that restoring the surveillance network was key to ensuring effective enforcement. Over 1,200 cameras had been installed at various roads and chowks in the holy city under the Smart City project. However, the Smart City surveillance network continues to grapple with setbacks caused by large-scale battery thefts and other technical snags over the past two years. The Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) project, launched under the Smart City Mission at a cost of Rs 105 crore, has been repeatedly targeted by thieves, severely impacting the city’s surveillance infrastructure. Nearly, 800 batteries worth around Rs 50 lakh have been stolen from CCTV cameras installations across Amritsar in the past two years from over 125 locations, including high-security zones such the offices of senior police and administrative officials, court complex and A CCTV camera being repaired in Amritsar on Wednesday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR major road intersections. Repeated thefts forced the authorities to get nearly 200 cameras connected directly to the main power supply, bypassing battery backups. This has resulted in cameras becoming non-functional during power outages, disrupting round-the-clock monitoring. Last year, the Amritsar city police also arrested four persons involved in stealing and illegally purchasing CCTV Six months on, four booked for beating woman, daughter Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, April 22 Rajbir Kaur (45), a widow and resident of Shahabpur, who was allegedly beaten, along with her daughter, by her neighbour over some minor issue, had to move from pillar to post for six months to get justice. Rajbir said that on October 29, 2025, Malkit Singh, Balraj Singh and Jasbir Kaur, all residents of Chabba village, and Kuljit Kaur, a resident of Shahabpur village, beat her severely and when her 19year-old daughter came to her rescue, she too was beaten and molested by the accused and her mobile phone forcibly taken from her. Rajbir said that she had lodged a complaint to the police, but the latter allegedly denied registering a case against the accused. She said that she had gone to the Sarhali police station to get justice many times, but in vain. She added that at last she lodged a complaint in the court, which ordered that the accused responsible for beating her and her daughter be booked. Following the order, accused Malkit Singh, Balraj Singh, Jasbir Kaur and Kuljit Kaur were booked on April 21. Inspector Binderjeet Singh, SHO, Sarhali, said that the police had filed a report under Section 194 of the BNS and also investigated the issue, which took some time. The police said that the accused had been booked under Section 309 (4), 351 (3) and 74 of the BNS on April 21. One of the accused Malkit Singh has been arrested too while the others are absconding, said the police. Rajbir claimed that she was fearing threat to her and her daughter’s life as three of the accused were still moving freely. batteries. Acting on a complaint by the KEC International Ltd., the executing agency of the ICCC project, the police had recovered 17 batteries and seized a vehicle used in the crime at that time. According to the police, the accused were part of a network targeting surveillance infrastructure. Despite this action, officials admit that surveillance gaps persist at several locations due to earlier thefts and dam- BSF-police teams seize 1.517 kg of heroin from two locations Our Correspondent aged infrastructure. The authorities concerned are now focussing on repairing non-functional cameras and strengthening security to prevent further incidents, apart from completing road features, including painting of zebra lines. Amandeep Kaur, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Traffic, said that online challaning would start soon as soon as the road features had been completed. Woman found hanging in Ajnala village, kin shocked Tribune News Service Tarn Taran, April 22 The Valtoha and Khalra police in coordination with the BSF seized 1.517 kg of heroin on Tuesday night from two different places. The police said that the Sub Inspector Avtar Singh, SHO Valtoha, and the BSF in a joint search operation seized a packet containing 1.09 kg of heroin from a field of Sankattra village. In the area of Palopatti village under the jurisdiction of the Khalra police, a packet containing 508 gm of heroin was seized from a field in a joint search operation. The police have registered a case under Sections 21-C, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act and Sections 25, 26 and 29 of the BVA 2024. The packets were reportedly delivered from across the border with the help of drones. Amritsar, April 22 Mystery shrouds the death of a woman who was found hanging inside her house in Gujjapir village falling under the jurisdiction of the Ajnala police station on Wednesday. The incident has left the family in deep shock. The deceased has been identified as Kajal. She was found hanging by her husband Lovepreet Singh in a room of their residence early on Wednesday. The family has expressed shock over the incident while stating that she did not have any trouble with the family or relatives, nor was she facing any problem. According to Lovepreet, the couple had been married for eight years and had three children. He was working as a daily wager to support the family. He said that after returning from work on Tuesday night, the family went to sleep. Around midnight, Kajal woke up and moved to another room. “In the morning, when I woke up, she was not in the room. After some time, I went to check the adjoining room and found her hanging from the ceiling,” he said. After receiving information, the police reached the spot and initiated proceedings. The body has been sent for a post-mortem examination to ascertain the exact cause of death. SI Harjit Singh Sandhu said that statements of family members were being recorded and further investigation was underway. The exact circumstances leading to the incident will be determined after the autopsy report, he added. er party when apprehended. A case has been registered under relevant sections of the Arms Act and BNS at the State Special Operation Cell police station here. The police officials said that investigations were underway to trace the wider network of the smuggling racket. The involvement of a Europe-based individual, identified as Preet, has also surfaced, and his role is being verified. Authorities believe that the timely recovery of these weapons has prevented their possible use in criminal activities. Further raids are being conducted to identify and apprehend other members of the crossborder smuggling network, they added. Man shot dead in Amritsar over inverter battery A man was allegedly shot dead in the Gate Hakima area of Amritsar in the early hours of Monday, following a minor dispute over power inverter battery. The police had registered a case under Section 103 of the BNS and Sections 25 and 27 of the Arms Act and arrested the accused, identified as Rajnish Kumar of Gurbaksh Census duty further stretches schools facing staff crunch Gurbaxpuri Tarn Taran, April 22 The BEd Teachers Union has expressed concern over the deputing of teachers for census duty, leading to schools functioning without teachers. Prabhjot Singh Golhawar, district president of the union, has expressed concern over the fact that a large number of schools are without teachers due to the ongoing Census work. The teacher leader said here today that the education authorities in the district acted without thinking while assigning teachers on a large scale for the Census duty, due to which most schools are without teachers and there are no teachers left to teach children. The leader said that a large number of teacher posts were already lying vacant in most schools of the district and the Census work had further put the teachers under additional burden of work. He said that the authorities had not even considered the working condition of the schools while assigning duties to teachers. He said that there were just two teachers in Government Elementary School, Pandori Rehmana, and both had been assigned the duty for the Census. Along with this, there was only one teacher in Government Elementary School, Pandori Takht Mall, and he had also been assigned Census duty. Golhawar further said that there were two teachers in Government Middle School, Punian, and both had also been assigned the duty of the Census. He said that apart from these schools, there were many other schools which had been locked due to the teachers going for Census work. He told the officials that after posting duty, it should be ensured that two teachers remain in each school so that the work of the schools can continue to some extent. He said that the teachers are already overburdened with non-academic work and the services of other employees, besides the Education Department, should also be taken to conduct the census work. DEO (Secondary) Satnam Singh Bath said the situation regarding the shortage of teachers had already been brought to the notice of the higher authorities and the district administration, and the officials were finding themselves helpless in resolving the issue. Nagar, located on Jhabal road here on Wednesday. According to the complaint lodged by Bindu, a resident of New Kot and wife of the deceased, her husband had gone out around 1:15 am after consuming liquor despite her objections. She stated that he had earlier returned an inverter battery to a shopkeeper named Captain in August 2025, the amount of which had not been refunded. She alleged that while her husband called her from his mobile phone and informed her that Rajneesh had shot him. Bindu, along with her son, rushed to the spot and found him lying in a pool of blood with a gunshot injury on his left leg. He was immediately taken to Civil Hospital, Amritsar, where doctors declared him brought dead. In her statement, Bindu claimed that her husband had a verbal altercation with the accused, during which the latter opened fire, leading to his death. The police initiated legal proceedings and arrested the accused. During the investigation, a .12-bore double-barrel gun was seized from his possession. Man acquitted in six-year-old case of ‘murder’ Tarn Taran, April 22 The court of the RS Bajwa, Additional District and Session Judge, in a decision has acquitted a man in a six-year-old case, in which Gurroop Kaur, wife of Jaglal Singh, had been allegedly strangled. Those acquitted have been identified as Jaglal Singh and his father (late) Bhagwan Singh, both residents of Pakhopur village, falling under Chohla Sahib police station. Gurroop was married to Jaglal Singh in 2014 and she allegedly died by suicide on June 23, 2020. Mangal Singh, father of Gurroop, in his statement to the police, said that his daughter had been strangled by her husband Jaglal and father-in-law Bhagwan Singh. Following this charge, both had been arrested, but later got bail. Bhagwan, who was 85 years old at the time of the death of Gurroop, died two years back during the court proceedings. Advocate Navjot Kaur Chabba and Manuwant Singh Chabba, lawyers of the accused, told the court that Gurrop had died by suicide as she had illicit relation with one of her relative, Gursharanjit Singh, a resident of Ruriwala village. Following court proceedings and after listening to both sides, the judge acquitted Jaglal Singh. — OC Singapore woman spends b’day performing sewa Jenny Ying never went back after marrying a Patiala man, embraced Sikhism Neha Saini Tribune News Service Amritsar, April 22 Its 37 degrees with scorching sun, and Balwinder Kaur with a neat ‘patka’ tied on her head performs ‘jal sewa’ (free water service) outside the Golden Temple plaza on the Heritage Street. She speaks a mix of mandarin, English and Punjabi. Balwinder’s maiden name was Jenny Ying and she was a Taiwanese from Singapore. Jenny embraced Sikhism after her marriage to Patialabased Gurdeep Singh and the couple was in Amritsar to celebrate her birthday, which falls on April 23. Ask her why she chose this, and she said, “It gives me peace.” Jenny met Gurdeep while they both worked together in Singa- pore. After marriage, Jenny came to Punjab to live with Gurdeep’s family in Patiala and never went back. “I fell in love with the people, there is so much love. And of course, the Sikh values and culture helped me take the decision. I believe there is nothing more powerful than Waheguru (Almighty),” she shared with a smile that seemed to prove that she is indeed at ‘peace’. Her husband Gurdeep said that the couple had been travelling a lot and visiting gurdwaras in Amritsar. “We wanted to pay our obeisance at the Darbar Sahib and perform sewa together here to mark her birthday, which was special for us. Her family visits us often in India, but she never wanted to go back,” he said. c m y b At a time when Punjab is struggling against religious conversions and migration of the youth, Gurdeep said that Jenny embraced Sikhism with all her heart and was following its principles. “She loves listening to kirtan and perform sewa, which is the core of Sikhism. We would like to appeal to the youth to be proud of your identity and faith,” he said. Jenny and her husband celebrate her birthday by doing sewa in Amritsar on Wednesday. VISHAL KUMAR