28122020-ATR-01.qxd 12/27/2020 10:34 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar TRIBUNE FIXING RESPONSIBILITY NEED OF THE HOUR, SAY RESIDENTS They feel dairy owners and authorities need to do their bit to minimise the problems arising out of stray bovines. FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY INBRIEF 22 MORE TEST POSITIVE IN DIST Amritsar: With the district health authorities reporting 22 new cases on Sunday, the total count of infections has increased to 14,405. The new cases include 10 Influenza-like illness cases and 12 contacts of positive patients. The district has not reported any death on Sunday. Meanwhile, with the recovery of 31 patients, the total recovery count has also increased to 13,382. The district has reported a total of 549 deaths till date. At present, the district has a total of 549 active cases. TNS OFFICE-BEARERS OF CITIZEN COUNCIL Tarn Taran: Sukhwant Singh Dhami was elected president and Harinder Singh Plasauar as the general secretary of the local Citizen Council, an NGO, at the annual election of the organisation held here on Sunday. Other office-bearers elected are Harwinder Singh (vice-president), Vipin Dhingra (treasurer), Dr Nirmaljit Singh Varpal (organising secretary), Jaideep Bhargav (joint secretary), Charanjit Ashu (press secretary), Gurdial Singh (auditor) and Mohinder Singh Prince and Balraj Sigh Chawla (patrons). The NGO was organising mass marriages and other social activities for the past 30 years. OC ZOMATO DELIVERY BOY ROBBED Amritsar: A delivery boy with Zomato was looted by unknown armed persons near Ram Talai area on Saturday evening. The victim, Dinesh Kumar, said he was returning after delivering food in Partap Nagar area. He said he was returning on a motorcycle when two bikeborne men stopped him and snatched his wallet containing Rs 4,000 and other documents. The police have registered a case under Section 379-B (2) of the IPC. TNS SONI INAUGURATES STREET FLOORING Amritsar: Development works in the Tunda Talab area of Ward No. 60 would be completed within two months. This was stated by Om Parkash Soni, Education and Research Minister, while inaugurating the concrete flooring of streets on Sunday. He said that several development works had been completed at a cost of ~2 crore recently. Soni said three tubewells had been installed and there was no shortage of drinking water in the area. The work of installing street LED lights had been completed. He said a park at Tunda Talab would also be revamped. OC SNATCHERS HELD, 2 MOBILES SEIZED Amritsar: The Verka police have nabbed two snatchers, who had allegedly snatched a mobile from Verka resident 20 days ago. They were identified as Kuljit Singh, alias Tony, and Sukhwinder Singh, alias Baba, both residents of Jethuwal village. The police seized two expensive mobile phones from their possession. Nishan Singh, SHO, Verka police, said the duo had snatched a mobile phone from Vinod Kumar of Verka on December 7. He said that the accused were produced in the court and brought on police remand. TNS PAGE 2 NOW, A CASE AGAINST THE TEAM OF GANGUBAI KATHIAWADI PAGE 3 As per reports, Gangubai Kathiawadi’s son Babuji Rawji Shah has filed a case against Bhansali and Alia Bhatt. MAX 12°C | MIN 4°C | YESTERDAY MAX 16°C | MIN 4°C SUNSET MONDAY 5:40 PM ACTORS BHARATI ACHREKAR AND AANJJAN SRIVASTAV REUNITE! PAGE 4 Sony Sab is set to launch a renewed version of Wagle Ki Duniya, which had actors Srivastav and Achrekar. SUNRISE TUESDAY 7:29 AM MONDAY | 28 DECEMBER 2020 | AMRITSAR seized Protesting farmers beat thalis 3-kg heroinborder at Indo-Pak Raise slogans, ask Prime Minister Modi to listen to their Mann ki Baat too Tribune News Service PK Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, December 27 Farmers across the district on Sunday beat thalis during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Mann Ki Baat programme to protest against the three agriculture laws passed recently by the Central Government. They also raised slogans against the PM. Protest events were also organised in several villages of the border belt where people collectively beat utensils to express their anguish. A farmer leader, Rattan Singh Randhawa of Jamhoori Kisan Sabha, said, “The people are agitated as even after a month of protest in Delhi amid chill, the government is still indifferent.” He said the government must repeal the laws in view of the sentiments of the large section of the society. The Prime Minister should also listen to the public’s ‘mann ki baat’, he added. Another farmer leader, Dilbag Singh, while leading a protest in the city, said, “If the Prime Minister is not ready to listen to our mann ki baat, we would not listen to his. The idea of the protest is to show him that we do not care about his talks unless he listens to us.” Mangal Singh Rampura, a Farmers beat thalis during a protest against the farm laws at toll plaza on the outskirts of Amritsar on Sunday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR leader from the Kisan Sangharsh Committee, said, “The three laws are against the interest of the farming community. We will not allow the government to sell out farming to corporate houses.” He said farmers in large numbers were going to join the Delhi protest and they would not relent until the laws are repealed. Tarn Taran: Farmers and workers of many organisations on the call given by the Joint Farmers’ Morcha banged utensils and drums to protest against PM Modi’s ‘Mann Ki Baat’ here on Sunday. Activists of the Khalra Mission Organisation (KMO), Manukhi Adhikar Insaf Sangharsh Committee and other Sikh organisations organised a protest by beating drums as PM addressed his ‘Mann Ki Baat’. Jagdeep Singh Randhawa, Baba Darshan Singh and other representatives of Sikh organisations said the time had come for minority communities to be united against the divisive policies of the Central govenment. Workers of the Zamhoori Kisan Sabha, Dehati Mazdoor Sabha and Janvadi Isti Sabha beat utensils to lodge their protest against the autocratic functioning of the Central government which was in no mood to resolve the farmer agitation in the country. Baldev Singh Pandori and other leaders of the different organisations too addressed on the continued on page 2 Amritsar, December 27 With zero visibility on the IndoPak border in Attari, there has been a spurt in the attempts of pushing in drugs and arms by anti-national elements supported by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from across the border. The Border Security Force (BSF) on Sunday confiscated around 3 kg of heroin from the Attari border. The BSF said the alert jawans thwarted nefarious designs of cross border smugglers of sneaking in drugs in the area of the 71 Battalion of BSF The . jawans seized 3 packets containing just over 3-kg heroin. Jawans also recovered around 12-ft long plastic pipe near Burj border outpost falling under Bhindi Saida police station on Saturday. The pipe bearing a marking of made in Pakistan was found on the Indian side of the border. A case has been registered against unknown smugglers in this connection. Immediately, a search operation was carried out by the BSF and the Punjab Police. Sniffer dog was also pressed into service for zeroing in on the suspects. The police located footprints in the fields and a pair A PVC pipe, bearing a marking of made in Pakistan, was also seized from the border. of gloves from the spot. Therefore, forensic teams were also called on the spot. “There is high probability that the contraband was sneaked into this side of the border by cross border smugglers. Further investigations are underway,” said Attari Deputy Superintendent of Police Gurpartap Singh Sahota. Earlier, the BSF had seized two such PVC pipes from the electrified barbed fence at Daoke and Rajatal area on December 14. The police had registered two separate FIRs in this connection and had taken several people into the custody for investigations. As no recovery was made, cases were still under investigation. Panic as gunshots Light showers, morning fog add to chill fired at Fatahpur Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Amritsar, December 27 Panic gripped Fatahpur when unknown persons fired in air outside a residence here on Friday night. The police have recovered two live bullets and as many shells from the spot. Though a case has been registered, cops are cluless about the accused. Complainant Joginder Kaur said unknown persons were shouting the name of her son Gurwinder Singh Ginny even as he feigned ignorance about the suspects and the reason behind the incident. She lives with her elder son Nishan Singh. Gurwinder lives in Mohali with his family. Her grandson Sukhmanpreet Singh and his two friends Harmanpreet Singh and Gursewak Singh also live with her. According to the complainant, her daughter Kuljit Kaur and other relatives had come to meet her on Friday. At around 10.30 pm, they came out to see them off. Gursewak went with the relatives. Later, unknown persons came outside and started shouting, using foul language. She said they were shouting the name of Ginny and threatening of dire consequences. She said the accused fired into air, creating a panic. They fled when people gathered. She said Gurwinder feigned ignorance about the accused and the motive behind the incident. The police are investigating the case. Amritsar, December 27 The absence of sunlight throughout the day and intermittent showers in the evening caused a sudden drop in the daytime temperature on Sunday. Heavy fog was witnessed in the urban and rural areas until noon when it started drizzling. With weather forecasts predicting frost in the coming days, the daytime temperature, especially during early morning hours, is expected to fall further. The fog and showers affected the life in general as markets and roads were nearly empty. With the visibility extending only to a few metres, the commuters too faced a trouble on roads as drivers had to drive slowly and cautiously. The fog cover in the rural areas was dense in comparison to city areas. The movement of vehicles in rural Commuters make their way amid dence fog in Amritsar on Sunday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR areas remained negligible throughout the day. “Despite it being a public hol- iday, people preferred to stay at home and did not visit markets. It was a slow day for busi- ness,” said Harsimran Singh, a cloth seller. The hosiery sellers are, however, claiming that sales are good this season due to intense cold. The shopkeepers also stated that the demand for room heaters and geysers has registered an increase in the last one week. “We have not seen the sunlight for the last two days. It is intense cold outside and except for bringing fodder for animals all other works have been postponed,” said a farmer Major Singh from Chabal. He added that vegetable crops would be adversely hit with the frost in the coming days and the production would fall. While the chill in the air has increased, the agriculture experts stated that the showers are good for crops especially wheat as it would decrease the need for applying irrigation and help in tillering. They stated that farmers should apply a light irrigation to fodder crops during the early morning hours to decrease the effect of frost on them. Meet the women feedingprotesting farmers at Singhu border Say this is the least they can do to help farmers in their struggle Aparna Banerji Tribune News Service Singhu, December 27 For the past over 11 days, several women are following a 7.30 am to 11 pm schedule. They cook, laugh and share stories at the Singhu border. Cooking langar for hundreds of people, a group of women from Chabbewal village busy themselves with a gruelling 16-17 hours’ schedule to feed the sangat at the Singhu border. The women said they came here to express solidarity with the farmers. Themselves from farming background, they working throughout the day. Manjinder Kaur says: “We get up at 7 am and keep working throughout the day. We take breaks to rest or sleep, but since long hours of prep are needed for the langar, we are mostly cooking throughout the day. Hours go by in cooking, talking and we don’t even come to know how time flies.” Manjit Kaur from Chandigarh joined these women for the langar sewa soon after their arrival. While Manjit’s said this was their way of pooling in for the struggle. Simranjit Kaur from Chabbewal says: “We came here about a fortnight ago. While a jatha from Hoshiarpur had originally come in, we have been joined by many more people now. More women keep chipping in, offering their services. Now, it’s not just us. Everyone is keen on helping and doing their bit for farmers. We ourselves are from farming families. This is our way of expressing solidarity with farmers.” With many people to cook for, these women are busy Women from Chabbewal village, Hoshiarpur, cook langar at the Singhu border. Themselves from farming background, they say this is their way of pooling in for the struggle. TRIBUNE PHOTO c m y b husband is an ASI, her entire family has come to Singhu border to express solidarity with farmers. Manjit sits with her daughter Sneh Lata Kaur and both mother and daughter prepare chapatis for the sangat. Manjit says: “My son is in Brampton, he couldn’t come. But the rest of us are here. My husband took special leave to come here. He also cooks in between and sometimes sweeps the langar spot. My daughter is also keen on helping. Every day, we cook the langar together. She pursues graduation. Our kids joined us as they were keen on helping farmers. They are all fighting for us. This is the least we can do to help them out in the movement.”