16052026-JTR-01.qxd 5/15/2026 11:32 PM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar tribune SAFAI KARAMCHARIS’ STRIKE ENTERS DAY 5 IN PHAGWARA CITY POET KEEPS LITERARY CULTURE ALIVE ROOPI GILL BRINGS PUNJABI HERITAGE TO CANNES FILM FEST Residents continue to suffer due to mounting garbage and deteriorating sanitation conditions across the city. P2 Mala Aggarwal Madhavi has been steadily nurturing poetry through her writings, public recitations and literary collaborations. P3 Roopi Gill appeared at the Cannes Film Festival, representing Punjabi cinema and promoting her film Chardikala. P4 » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 40°C | MIN 23°C YESTERDAY MAX 39°C | MIN 24°C SUNSET SATURDAY 7.17 PM SUNRISE SUNDAY 5:30 AM » SATURDAY | 16 MAY 2026 | JALANDHAR 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. Outcry over demolition of heritage hospital demand preservation of colonial-era TB hospital buildings in Kapurthala Activists, royal kin Aparna Banerji Tribune News Service INBRIEF YOUTH HELD WITH HEROIN Phagwara: The police have arrested a youth Paras of Jagat Ram Soond colony, Phagwara, and recovered six gram of heroin from his possession on Thursday night.The accused was apprehended when a patrol party was conducting surveillance and checking of suspicious persons on the Hoshiarpur-Phagwara road, Phagwara. A case under NDPS Act has been registered. OC TWO BOOKED FOR VISA FRAUD Phagwara: On the complaint of Jarnail Singh of Badli village (Lohian), the police have registered a case against Balwinder Singh of Nurmahal and Kulwinder Singh of Lohian in an immigration fraud case. The complainant alleged that the accused collected ~5 lakh on the pretext of sending his son Kamalpreet Singh to the US. The police found that the accused had allegedly promised to facilitate the victim’s travel to the US and dishonestly obtained money from the family. OC MAN BOOKED FOR RASH DRIVING Phagwara: The police have booked a Nurmahal village bus driver on charges of causing death by negligence, rash driving on public road and mischief. The accused has been identified as Harjot Singh of Ramwal village. Baljindar Singh of Sherpur Tyba village in Moga complained to the police that the accused was driving his bus negligently and fast and hit motorcyclist Sandip, resulting in his death. OC 2 ARRESTED FOR WHEAT BAG THEFT Phagwara: The police have arrested two persons and booked two others for stealing wheat bags from a store. The accused have been identified as Satnam Singh of Mundi Sheharian village and Sarabjit Singh of Mehraj Wala village. Kulwant Singh of Mehraj Wala village told the police that the accused and their two other accomplices stole 38 bags of wheat from his store. oc MAN ARRESTED UNDER NDPS ACT Phagwara: The Nurmahal police have arrested a person for selling intoxicating tablets. As many as 25 tablets were recovered from the possession of the accused Sarabjit Singh of Mohalla Kacha Pakka Vehara, Nurmahal.A case has been registered under the NDPS Act against the accused. oc WOMAN HELD FOR SELLING LIQUOR Phagwara: The police arrested a woman on the charge of selling illicit liquor. As many as 20 bottles were seized from accused Satnam Kaur of Ismailpur village. A case has been registered against the accused. oc Jalandhar, May 15 Kapurthala has witnessed the growing outrage over the demolition of heritage buildings linked to its royal and colonial past, cleared to make way for a medical college. Royal descendants, local residents, activists, Bholath MLA Sukhpal Khaira and members of INTACH on Friday objected to the demolition of buildings on the premises of the Civil Hospital and the proposed demolition of the Lady Linlithgow Tuberculosis Hospital — both dating back to the 1930s and 1940s. Activists demanded that the colonial-era TB hospital be saved from demolition. The Randhir Jagatjit Hospital (later famous as Civil Hospital, Kapurthala), was opened in 1937 by former Maharaja of Kapurthala Jagatjit Singh. The Civil Hospital’s foundation stone was laid by Baron Irwin, then Viceroy and Governor-General of India, on November 26, 1927. It later came to be locally known as Irwin Jubilee Memorial Hospital. Lady Linlithgow TB Hospital was inaugurated by the Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 15 Fulfilling a promise that he had made to the Jalandhar blast victim Gurpreet Singh, Rajya Sabha MP and BJP BJP blames AAP for inaction ■ Ruling party says issue politicised ■ Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service The lone wall of the Civil Hospital’s heritage building in Kapurthala left standing after the rest of the structure was razed. PHOTO: MALKIAT SINGH Maharaja and Viceroy Lord Linlinthgow and Lady Linlithgow on November 15, 1941. A large portion of the Civil Hospital complex has already been demolished, leaving behind only sections of a heritage wall. The TB hospital structure still stands, with residents urging the authorities to preserve it as part of the city’s medical legacy. An inaugural plaque of the 1937 hospital, detailing its construction and opening, now lies among the debris. Residents wrote to Chief Secretary KAP Sinha, the DC, Kapurthala, and Secretary, Health, Kumar Rahul, seeking immediate intervention over the issue today. Tikka Shatrujit Singh, greatgrandson of Maharaja Jagatjit Singh, currently in Istanbul, told The Tribune, “I learnt about the demolitions only today. Kapurthala, once known as the ‘Paris of the East’, has been reduced to neglect, with several heritage structures in disrepair and others already lost to official apathy. The Civil Hospital was among the first modern healthcare institutions in the state, gifted by my greatgrandfather to the people. Its demolition is a travesty. The Lady Linlithgow TB Hospital must be preserved. If the government is unable to do so, it should hand it back to us — we would be willing to restore it.” DC, Kapurthala, Akash Bansal said, “Any decision can only taken with the consultation of the nodal department. We’re taking up the issue.” Kumar Rahul, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Weflare, Punjab, said, “I received some complaints regarding the demolitions today. We are trying to save the TB Hospital.” MP Sahney fulfils promise, gifts Activa to Jalandhar blast victim Deepkamal Kaur BJP, AAP leaders trade barbs over bhajan event row leader Vikramjit Singh Sahney on Friday gifted a new Activa to his kin on Friday. While Gurpreet is still to recover from the injuries, his kin had met the MP to receive the gift. The blast had occurred on May 5 outside the BSF headquarters in Jalandhar. Just seven minutes before the blast, Gurpreet, a delivery boy for Flipkart, was awaiting at the gates for the return of a parcel. He had parked the scooter right near the blast site and was talking on the phone when the blast occurred. While recovering at his place, Gurpreet had made a fervent appeal, saying that he was the only bread earner in the family. “Having lost my scooter, I do not know how I shall continue my job for which vehicle is a necessity”, he had said, maintaining that his family was not in a position to buy a new vehicle. Jalandhar, May 15 A day after BJP leaders accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of using the police to stall a bhajan sandhya, political sparring between the two sides continued on Friday. BJP leaders, including exMLAs Sheetal Angural, KD Bhandari and Sarabjit Makkar and district president of the party Sushil Sharma, held a media interaction. The party leaders said AAP general secretary Deepak Bali and minister Mohinder Bhagat had failed to intervene in time and later tried to shift the blame. Bhandari said, “Organisers of the event who were members of Kasht Niwaran Bala Ji Mandir, Sheikhan Bazaar, here, had taken due permission from seven departments, including the SHO and the Assistant Commissioner of Police of the area. From the police side, only the consent of Commissioner of Police Dhanpreet Kaur was required. The AAP leaders were aware of the face-off between the police and the organisers. “Was it not their responsibility to intervene in such a sensitive religious matter and resolve it in time? We had no intention of staging a dharna over a religious issue, but our repeated appeals went unheard, leaving us with no other option,” the BJP leaders said. Angural said, “Rather than accepting that they did not act in time, the AAP leaders have been blaming us for trying to politicise the issue. This is not acceptable. We demand action against those who tore the posters of Balaji. We had protested overnight. The next morning, we sat on a dharna in scorching heat, just to get police permission for the religious event. Hours after all permissions were secured, the AAP leaders got into action”. This morning, several AAP leaders posted their videos of attending the bhajan sandhya and also being honoured by the temple committee. Deepak Bali blamed the BJP for giving it a political colour without any reason. “I was not in the city at the time and would have intervened had I been present”, he had told the media before attending the event. In the evening today, the AAP leaders took to streets to take on the BJP-led Centre over inflation. They stood at Guru Nanak Mission Chowk, holding placards with messages against the Centre. Among those who led the protest were Ashwani Aggarwal, Bahri Salmani, Rubal Sandhu, Mangal Bassi, Shobha Bhagat and others. Sisters of flood-hit village score big, but poverty threatens their dreams While Prabhjot scored 88.2 pc in Class XII, Veerpal got 88.7 pc in Class X Aakanksha N Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 15 For months, every morning began with the same prayer at the gurdwara for sisters Prabhjot Kaur and Veerpal Kaur, “Sada ghar bach jaave, asi padh laiye” (May our home survive, may we be able to study). Today, the two daughters of a struggling farming family from Rampur Gaura village have given their village a reason to smile amid devastation. Students of Government Senior Secondary School, Tibba, Prabhjot and Veerpal cleared the Punjab School Education Board examinations with good scores. While Prabhjot scored 88.2 per cent in Class XII, Veerpal got 88.7 per cent in Class X. The sisters studied while watching their world collapse around them. Rampur Gaura was among the worst-affected villages in the devastating floods of August 2025, when the Beas changed its course, swallowing acres of farmland and pushing families into uncertainty overnight. Crops on 17 acres belonging to the family of Prabhjot and Veerpal were destroyed. The fertile land that once fed the family was reduced to ruin, leaving nothing behind for the next sowing season. Even their dream home that was built with years of hard work just three years ago now stands on the verge of collapse. Parts of the walls, washroom and structure have already crumbled. The pain is still fresh in the voice of elderly family member Milkha Singh. He says quietly, “We had not even fully lived our dream of this home.” The emotional and financial blow forced the family to shift to an older Prabhjot Kaur and Veerpal Kaur house in Passan Kadim village. For over two months after the floods, the sisters could not attend the school regularly as the family struggled to come to terms with the loss. Yet, amid anxiety, displacement and sleepless nights, the girls kept studying. While the adults worried about survival and debt, Prabhjot and Veerpal sat with their books, preparing for board exams in a house where everyone’s heart was heavy with fear about the future. Their father Gursahib Singh, once a farmer on his own land, now works as a labourer on other people’s fields to support the family. His younger daughter has taken admission in Government School, Tibba, in Class XI. The burden of reality now threatens to cut short Prabhjot’s education despite her excellent performance. The bright student has dreams of becoming a teacher and wants to pursue BA, but the family says they can no longer afford her c m y b higher education. “Paise nahee hai, agge nahee padha honi beti,” says her mother helplessly. “It has become difficult to earn. Her father is working extremely hard on others’ fields. Even managing daily expenses has become difficult,” she says. Prabhjot says sadly that she may now have to give up her dream and take up a computer course to find work quickly and support her family. “Fees nahee taar honi. There seems no other option,” she says with a heavy voice. Her struggle is made even more remarkable by her academic excellence — Prabhjot scored an impressive 94 in economics despite the challenges she faced. Her class in-charge and economics lecturer Amita calls her one of the most hardworking students she has ever taught. “Even when she could not come to school for a long time, she remained in touch with me constantly,” Amita says. “She would call and ask me to explain topics and I did. She is incredibly dedicated. She shared with me how deeply her family suffered during the floods,” she says. Their story is not the only one of courage emerging from the flood-hit villages. Charanjit Kaur from Baupur village, whose father had died by suicide after suffering devastating crop losses during the 2023 floods, also scored above 85 per cent marks in the Class XII board examinations, overcoming unimaginable personal tragedy to continue her studies. Similarly, Sukhmanpreet Kaur, a Class X student of Government High School, Baupur, secured 87 per cent marks in the PSEB exams. Her father works as a farm labourer and their family too had lost their home during the floods. Jalandhar : 679, Model Town, Near Masand Chowk. Mob : 99158-30662 Hoshiarpur : The Mall Road, Mob : 73552-14504