28112020-LT-01.qxd 11/27/2020 11:55 PM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana TRIBUNE DISMISSED BSF OFFICIAL ARRESTED FOR SACRILEGE PAGE 2 Ahmedgarh Sadar Police arrests a dismissed BSF official in connection with torn pages of a holy 'gutka'. FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY Police FB post helps nab snatcher ACTRESS: ARTISTES SHOULD STAY POSITIVE AT ALL TIMES RICHA CHADHA WINS PETA'S VEGAN STYLE ICON AWARD Model-actress Gagan Randhawa lays emphasis on taking care of mental health during the pandemic. MAX 24°C | MIN 8°C | YESTERDAY MAX 24°C | MIN 8°C SUNSET SATURDAY 5:25 PM Tribune News Service Ludhiana, November 27 The images of snatchers posted on the official Facebook page of the Ludhiana police helped the police nab the accused. “A few days ago, two persons tried to snatch the mobile phone of a factory worker.We traced the culprits and arrested them, based on their identification tips from the Facebook post. The arrested person is Rajinder Singh, alias Raja, of Sasrali village in Meharban, Ludhiana. He is a factory worker. His accomplice Aman is yet to be arrested. He used a toy lighter pistol which looked real,” the Commissioner of Police (CP) Rakesh Agrawal stated in the FB post. ADCP Deepak Pareek conducted a press conference regarding the matter on Friday. Meanwhile, the Ludhiana CP Agrawal also posted a thanksgiving message on the Facebook and Twitter account of the Ludhiana police. Ludhiana, November 27 Eightyfive persons tested positive for coronavirus, while three lost their lives to the deadly virus in the district today. Those who died were all men aged 82, 75 and 67. They belonged to New Shivpuri, Mundian Kalan and Dandi Swami, respectively. Out of the total people who tested positive today, 31 were referred from flu corners, 28 from OPDs, 14 were contacts of positive people, five were health care workers, while the tracing of five persons was in progress. Deputy Commissioner Varinder Sharma today said that under the “Mission Fateh” of the Punjab Government, the number of Covid patients getting cured in Ludhiana district was increasing with each passing day. He said there were 874 active patients in the district at present. He said efforts were being made to keep people safe from Covid. He added that a total of 85 new patients from the district had tested posi- Abetment to suicide case registered 6 yrs on, no action on demand for panel to keep check on parking lots Tribune News Service Ludhiana, November 27 Despite repeated demands of shopkeepers and residents, the Municipal Corporation (MC) has not formed any monitoring committee to keep a check on the violations at parking lots in the city. The fleecing of visitors remained a major problem at the parking lots in the city, but the civic body had a “soft corner” for the erring contractors in the past. The MC has re-auctioned the parking lots including Feroze Gandhi Market, multi-level parking lot, Bhadaur House, BRS Nagar near the police station and Sarabha Nagar I Block. Now, the shopkeepers demand from the MC to form a committee comprising officials of the MC, police, representatives of NGOs and market associations of the area where parking lots are located so that the visitors don’t face any inconvenience. Col Harjap Singh of Feroze Gandhi Market said, “We had been demanding monitoring committee for more than past six years, but none has been formed to keep a check on the violations at the parking lots till date. Now, we appeal to the current MC Commissioner to order to form a committee to keep a check on the violations.” As per the conditions, the contractor will have to keep the fire lane vacant and spare minimum 20 feet space for entry and exit for the fire safety vehicle in the parking lot of Feroze Gandhi market. The non-compliance will lead to consequences as the contractor may have to pay heavy penalty/cancellation of the contract. Mostly contractors used to allow and charge fee for parking vehicles in the fire lane and the road portion by violating the norms. Col Harjap Singh said, “Earlier, we used to complain against overcharging and unauthorised parking by contractors, but no action was taken against them. There is a dire need of monitoring committee. SHO of the police stations concerned, MC’s senior officials, market Girl’s body found in canal 3 killed in road mishaps in city Ludhiana, November 27 The body of a young girl, aged around 20, was found floating in the Sidhwan canal near the Verka Milk plant on Friday. The Sarabha Nagar police, on getting information about this, reached the spot and shifted the body to the Civil Hospital. As per the police, the girl seemed to have committed suicide. SHO Sarabha Nagar Madhu Bala said probe had begun to identify the deceased. The body was kept at the Civil Hospital for postmortem examination. — TNS Ludhiana, November 27 Three persons were killed in separate road accidents in the city in the past two days, and in all three mishaps, the drivers could not be identified by the police. The first accident was reported on the GT road near Hardy’s World on November 25 in which a car driver was killed after his car rammed into the tipper from the rear side. The complainant Paras of Gopal Nagar, Haibowal, said on Wednesday he, along with his sister Priyanka, her husband Sunil and his friend continued on page 2 COVID-19 CONTROL ROOM ■ For Home Isolation: 78147-64759 COVID-19 FIGURES SAMPLES POSITIVE ACTIVE DEATHS 4,48,932 22,542 874 897 ■ For Ambulance Problem: 78143-63850 ■ For Hospital Problem: 62849-12553 ■ For General Problem: 62845-31852 WEBLINK WHERE RESIDENTS CAN CHECK REAL TIME STATUS OF VACANT AND FILLED BEDS IN ALL HOSPITALS: https://ludhiana.nic.in/notice/covid-19-bed-status-in-ludhiana-district PARKING FEE Scooter Car Three-wheeler commercial Four-wheeler commercial ~10 ~20 ~30 ~50 Monthly pass ~250 for two-wheeler and ~500 for four-wheeler association representatives and residents should be part of the committee.” Resident Gaganpreet Singh said, “The MC must display parking fee structure boards and display the name and contact numbers of the zonal commissioner concerned at all entry and exit points of parking lots. The MC should take immediate action against the violations.” As per the tender conditions, the contractors are supposed to display rate list and install adequate number of CCTV cameras to connect the parking areas, including each entry and exit points. Besides, contractors are supposed to mark car and scooter lanes in the parking lots. They will have to ensure e-ticketing at the parking lots and ensure that the parking staff must wear proper uniform. — TNS PAGE 4 Richa works towards demanding sustainability of the environment and the need for cruelty-free clothing. SUNRISE SUNDAY 7:05 AM 85 test +ve; 3 lose life Tribune News Service Ludhiana, November 27 Three days after the incident in which a man had killed four of his family members in Mayur Vihar, on the basis of the suicide note of the accused Rajiv Sunda, the city police registered an abetment to suicide case against the inlaws of the son of the accused. Rajiv had committed suicide after the incident as he had jumped before a train in Jagraon on the same day, but his body was identified yesterday only. The booked accused are Ashok Gulati and Gaurav Gulati, residents of Haibowal. They are yet to be arrested in the case. Additional DCP 3 Sameer Verma said on Wednesday morning that Rajiv Sunda had killed four of his family members, including his wife, Sunita 55, son Ashish 35, Ashish’s wife Garima and a 13-year-old Ashish’s son Saket. He had also left behind a suicide note in which had held the in-laws of Ashish responsible for his suicide Rajiv had left behind the suicide note near the bodies in which he mentioned that his daughter-in-law, in connivance with her father Ashok Gulati and son Gaurav Gulati of Haibowal, was demanding a huge sum of money from him and when he refused to give the money, the accused threatened to file a false case of domestic violence against him on the complaint of his daughter-in-law Garima. The accused had also mentioned in the suicide note that he had already given ~7 lakh to Garima’s father and now they were again demanding ~10 lakh on the plea that Garima’s brother had to go abroad. Due to this, he killed them all and himself committed suicide. PAGE 3 tive in the last 24 hours. Till date, a total of 4,48,932 samples had been taken, out of which the reports of 4,46,573 samples had been received, of which 4,20,854 samples were found negative, while the reports of 2,359 samples were pending. Now, the total number of patients related to Ludhiana was 22,542, while 3,177 patients were related to other districts/states. Today, three patients lost their lives (all from Ludhiana district). Now, the total number of persons who lost their lives from Ludhiana district was 897. Till date, 50,238 persons have been kept under home quarantine in the district and at present, the number of such persons is 1,943. Today, 147 persons were sent for home quarantine. He said whenever the district administration and Health Department, Ludhiana, know about any positive or suspected Covid person, his/her sample is immediately sent for testing. Similarly, 3,753 samples of suspected patients were sent for testing today and their results were expected shortly. SATURDAY | 28 NOVEMBER 2020 | LUDHIANA Reluctance to get tested major cause for spread in 1st phase Manav Mander Tribune News Service Ludhiana, November 27 The major setback for the district in the Covid spread during the first phase has been late testing and patients coming to doctors at late stage. People belonging to rural areas are still hesitant in coming forward for testing, said Dr Bishav Mohan, senior cardiologist at the DMCH here and also member of the Covid-19 taskforce formed by state government. “The only way to control the second wave expected in mid-December is to do maximum sampling, but the sampling figures tell an all together different story.” The samples collected in a day for testing in the district this month ranged between 1,500-1,800, while last month, the samples collected in a day were above 3,000 and on October 10, 4,217 were collected in a day for testing. Rumours that were spread in June-July affected the mindset of people. As a result, many did not came for testing. Had testing been group was formed and ❝The Sanjeevaniplatform where doctorswas athe entire knowledge sharing from country interacted with each other. Communication was efficient and the only thing that we lacked was the will of the people to come out for testing ❞ Dr Bishav Mohan, SENIOR CARDIOLOGIST, DMCH done as we had planned, Covid would not have spread to this extent, said the doctor. “The Sanjeevani group was formed and was a knowledge sharing platform where doctors from the entire country interacted with each other and also discussed the cases once a week. Communication was efficient and the only thing that we lacked was the will of the people to come out for testing,” he said. Civil Surgeon Dr Rajesh Bagga said the need of the hour was to create awareness among the people to come up for testing. Information Education and Communication van was spreading awareness among the masses for testing and once again, the awareness drive will be started with the help of the IEC van. “For the past couple of days, the number of tests being done on a daily basis has seen an increase,” said Dr Bagga. NGT panel tells MC to upgrade STPs before March 31 next year After Mar, a penalty of ~10 lakh per drain per month will be levied: Panel Tribune News Service Ludhiana, November 27 The monitoring committee of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) visited Ludhiana to check the status of the works related to the cleaning of Buddha Nullah and solid waste management today. The panel, led by Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Pritam Pal, inspected the modernised slaughterhouse, carcasses processing plant, real-time water quality monitoring system installed in Buddha Nullah, micro-forest area developed along Buddha Nullah, floating barriers in the nullah and the CETPs etc. Justice Jasbir Singh has given directions to the MC authorities to ensure 100 per cent treatment of sewage by upgrading the sewage treatment plants (STPs) to the required capacity so that no untreated water shall be drained into the Buddha Nullah by March 31, 2021. He said according to the NGT orders, if the district did not start the STPs before March 31, 2021, a penalty of Rs 10 lakh per A team of the NGT Monitoring Committee checks a micro-forest area along the Buddha Nullah in Ludhiana. PHOTO: ASHWANI DHIMAN drain per month would be levied. He also told the district authorities to commence the work related to in-situ remediation before July 1, 2021. Committee members, including SC Agrawal, Urvashi Gulati, Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal, technical expert Babu Ram, DC Varinder Sharma and MC Commissioner Pardeep Kumar Sabharwal were present on the occasion. During the visit, the NGT panel hailed some initiatives by the MC and the PPCB. Justice Jasbir Singh said the committee appreciated the initiatives, including the setting up of Modern Animal Carcasses Processing Plant, Modern Slaughter House, common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) for textile dyeing industries and micro-forests in the district. The carcasses plant is being set up under the smart city mission, while the MC has taken an initiative for setting up micro-forests along Buddha Nullah. MC chief Pardeep Kumar Sabharwal said they had set up 10 micro-forests and more such forests would be set up in the coming months. The panel was also informed about the MC’s plan for the beautification of Buddha Nullah. According to information, the panel has given instruc- tions to the authorities concerned to make sure the functioning of the carcass utilisation plant, slaughterhouse and the CETPs on time, otherwise penalty would be imposed. The panel members also appealed to the public to practise the source segregation of the waste. PPCB Ludhiana, Chief Environmental Engineer, Gulshan Rai, and Senior Environmental Engineer, Sandeep Bahl, were present during the inspection of the sites. The committee also examined the functioning of the recently commissioned 15 MLD CETP set up for the dyeing cluster of Bahadurke Road, Ludhiana. Justice Jasbir Singh appreciated the efforts of the SPV and Punjab Pollution Control Board for setting up the project. He directed the SPV of Focal Point and Tajpur Road dyeing cluster to commission their respective CETPs by December 31 and use their treated effluents onto land for irrigation so as to completely segregate the industrial and domestic effluents of the city. Passenger traffic limping back to normal With the partial restoration of the rail traffic after farmers lifted their blockades from tracks, the Ludhiana railway station is seen buzzing with activity of passengers on Friday. PHOTOS: INDERJEET VERMA c m y b