01012021-JTR-01.qxd 12/31/2020 11:07 PM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar TRIBUNE ACTRESS SONAKSHI SINHA SIGNS WEB PROJECT WITH NETFLIX Sonakshi will be making her digital debut with web series Fallen and will essay the role of a tough cop in it. FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY PAGE 2 THE NEW YEAR IS HERE AND CELEBS SHARE THEIR HOPES PAGE 2 AMITABH BACHCHAN ENDS 2020 ON A MUSICAL NOTE As 2021 is here, it is time to reflect and reboot. Celebs list out their wishes, and dreams as we step into New Year. MAX 16°C | MIN 5°C | YESTERDAY MAX 17°C | MIN 4°C SUNSET FRIDAY 5:36 PM Big B took to the social media and posted a picture with granddaughter Aaradhya from a recording studio. SUNRISE SATURDAY 7:27 AM FRIDAY | 1 JANUARY 2021 | JALANDHAR No midnight parties, no worries! Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 31 Owing to night curfew restrictions imposed by the state government till December 31 in the ongoing pandemic, no New Year parties could be held tonight and celebrations largely remained confined to daytime gettogethers, luncheon outings, evening geris and selfies with friends and families. Residents said they were planning to buy cakes and purchase evening meals online from the eateries for the celebrations. To attract customers, city’s popular bakery Parveen Bakers and Confectioners organised a ‘live cake baking’ session in the day at Johal market. Several eateries offered discounts on combo meals for takeaway orders. Youngsters said that since there are no parties and with restrictions on outings after 10 pm, they would have to make for it by engaging in video calls with their friends and relatives. Online New Year celebrations were also organised by educational institutes like Innocent Hearts College of Education. The title of their digital event was ‘a sparkling healthy new year – 2021’ incorporating the theme of eradicating social evils and spreading awareness of cooperatively fighting against diseases. The event started with an online prayer ceremony in which students, teachers and faculty members prayed that the coming year should be free from the pandemic and other disease-free. They endeavoured to spread mass awareness about disease preventive measures. Some student-teachers expressed their NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS Frolics confined to daytime as night curfew stays; home delivery of meals, cake cutting, video calls taken as options USHERING IN NEW YEAR WITH SWAG: Young women frolic out and have fun during a get-together on New Year Eve in Model Town, Jalandhar. ing speech about the prevalent crimes committed by youth which needs to be curbed. Principal Dr Arjinder Singh sounded a message: “Teachers have the power to change the world. It is the duty of would-be teachers to mould their students in such a way that they become good human beings and efficient human resources. Values should be inculcated among the students in the primary stage itself.” The online celebrations continued with best wishes and blessings from the principal and teachers. All wished each other peace, harmony, wholeness and prosperity in the coming year and in the years to come. Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana Punjab Youth Plan to set up mobile camps for enrolment of beneficiaries: DC MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary hands over a cheque for ~2 lakh to Tejinder Pal in Jalandhar. MP gives ~2L to visually impaired cricket player Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 31 Member of Parliament Santokh Singh Chaudhary on Thursday gave a cheque for ~2 lakh to cricket player Tejinder Pal Singh, who was part of the Indian team that won the Blind Cricket World Cup held in South Africa. The Indian team had brought home the world cup trophy after defeating Pakistan in the final. The amount was released by the Punjab State Sports Council. Speaking on the occasion, MP Chaudhary said that Tejinder Pal Singh was the only player from Punjab, who was part of the world cup winning team. He said he had made Jalandhar and the country proud, adding that the visually impaired players too should be encouraged and felicitated by governments so that they could bring more laurels to the nation. PHOTO: SARABJIT SINGH Since there will be no night curfew from January 1 onwards, some families have deferred the celebrations to the weekend. Even the city-based hotels, restaurants and clubs are rubbing their hands together, hoping that it could bring back their lost clientele views through songs and selfcomposed poems, while resolutions were made to provide free and qualitative education to the poor and needy. Beautiful digital cards were prepared by Divya and Vyomika. Self-composed poems were recited by Kunika, Deepika and Ishpreet. Prabhjot gave a heart-touch- Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 31 To ensure benefit of cashless healthcare services of ~5 lakh under the Ayushman Bharat Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana, Jalandhar DC Ghanshyam Thori on Wednesday directed officials to set up 25 camps across the district. The DC said these 25 camps would comprise 10 mobile camps at various locations, 12 permanent camps (for farmers) at the market committee offices, one permanent camp at type-1 Seva Kendra and two other Seva Kendras in the city. Thori appealed people to carry their Aadhar cards while visiting type-1 Seva Kendra or other government healthcare establishments, including CHCs, sub-divisional hospitals and the district hospital so that benefit of on-the-spot enrolment and e-card generation could be given to them. He said for getting e-cards, one must carry an Aadhar card, Pan card, ration card or registered construction worker card, journalist ID (yellow and accreditation cards), and farmer ID (J forms). The Deputy Commissioner directed officials of service provider company Vidal Health Insurance TPA to immediately set up camps at the given locations. Thori said people could avail the benefit of cashless treatment up to Rs 5 lakh at the government and empaneled hospitals. He said all 13 government health institutions and 56 private hospitals have been empanelled in the district and the list could be viewed at sha.punjab.gov.in. The scheme offers 1,579 packages to beneficiaries, including 180 packages for public hospitals of which 25 packages were referable to private hospitals. The DC said people holding NFSA ration cards, construction workers, SECC beneficiaries, small traders, journalists, and J forms were eligible under the scheme adding beneficiaries could check their eligibility at sha.punjab.gov.in, while all the PMJAY families as per Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011(Blue card holder families) can check the same at bis.pmjay.gov.in. Thori stated that the vendor company was charging nominal fee of Rs 30 to enrol and generate e-cards while the CHCs, district hospital, and sub-divisional hospitals were providing these services free of cost. Fest at LPU from tomorrow Tribune News Service Phagwara, December 31 The Punjab Government is organising three-day annual mega Punjab State Youth Festival-2021 on the campus of Lovely Professional University (LPU) from January 2. Under the patronage of the Department of Sports and Youth Services, Punjab, the fest is devised to encourage talented youth of the state to compete with optimism and enthusiasm. Thousands of talented youth from every corner of Punjab have registered for participation. The first three winners of the various competitive events held in individual as well as group items at the state-level will be further participating in ‘National Youth Festival-2021.’ Screening of the registered participants from all districts of Punjab has been finalised by the organising team comprising Director, Youth Services, Punjab, Dr Kamaljeet Singh Sidhu, Assistant Director, Youth Services, Kapurthala, Preet Kohli, Dean Division of Student Welfare Dr Sorabh Lakhanpal and Deputy Director Dr Manish Gupta of the LPU. A general meeting was also held today at the university for streamlining of the fest. Various competitions have been chalked out in 20 areas, to be held at four venues on the LPU campus. c m y b The NSS Committee of School of Management of Lyallpur Khalsa College Technical Campus organised a donation drive on the eve of New Year at Pingalwara, Jalandhar. The faculty and students of Department of Management contributed clothes, eatables, cash, shoes and other material. The same PAGE 2 was distributed to the needy as a part of fulfilling corporate social responsibility towards society. Sukhbir Singh Chatha, director, Academic Affairs, praised the efforts of faculty and students and stated that these activities instill good values and makes them responsible citizens of nation. Farm stir seen as the game changer Aakanksha N Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 31 The year 2020 was a lost year; a forgettable one. While the pandemic reeled in the spotlight in the beginning, rendering people incarcerated at their homes, but agreeably, the year has ended on an unexpectedly much better note with the down-in-thehistory books movement by the farmers which prompted people to come out of their abodes and support them. Scholars, poets, literary persons have seen this movement as a big turning point in the politics and history of Punjab. Satnam Channa, a writer and presenter, said that the movement has given a turn to everything. “There was a time when singers used to face flak because of the kind of lyrics they would use in the songs, mention of weapons in the same. But when the movement started, they were the ones who sang several songs dedicated to the farmers,” he shares, before adding, “they would earlier go to stage to earn money, but now went to the protests to contribute something.” Channa also said that this is the actual ‘sabhyachar’ where people have united which was unseen before. “This is our culture. The new year has started with people telling that humanity still exists,” he expresses. While talking about his plans and resolutions, he revealed his plans to direct a film on the farmers protest and highlight the topics that would awake the society. Des Raj Kali, a noted writer, said that perception towards the youth changed in the year. “We had always seen youngsters running after IELTS, falling prey to drug menace, As the year ends, scholars believe that the movement will shape the state in the years to come Satnam Channa Des Raj Kali but the movement made us see an altogether different youngsters who has patience and is also sensitive towards others problems,” he says, adding that youngsters sat with the farmers, listened to them, understood their problems and connected with them. “It is a very positive sign of the state. Politically and culturally, the state had become impotent. There was stagnation all over, but we will see an enlightened Punjab in 2021,” he tells. “Ohtho Punjabi trolley vich chaanan bharke leyounge (Punjabis will bring trolleys full of light and hope for the future of the state),” the writer hoped. Dist avoids peak, no case of new strain reported so far, says admn In first phase, Covid vaccine to be administered to health staff in Jan Aparna Banerji 2 DIE, 42 TEST POSITIVE Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 31 With the per day average not exceeding 30 to 40 cases for the past few days, the district has been able to avoid the much dreaded peak which was expected in December. With the Covid vaccine to be made available for the 12,500 registered health workers in the month of January, the Health Department and the district administration are asking people to expect a relative relief in the New Year as compared to the gloom of 2020. While a peak was being predicted in December in the district after the initial increase in the number of cases, there was a gradual decrease in the number of Covid cases from the middle of December barring a few days when single-day Covid tally reached almost 100. Dr TP Singh, Nodal Officer (Coronavirus), Jalandhar, said: “The best part is that the district saw no major surge in December even though it had been anticipated. The cases for the past week or so have remained between 30 and 40 new cases per day. With hectic contact tracing happening and no new surge in cases, we have a reason to be hopeful in 2021. Jalandhar: The district reported two more Covid-19 fatalities on Thursday, taking the death toll to 642, while 42 new cases increased the infection tally to 19,926. The active cases in the district are 372, while 18,912 people have been discharged and 230 people are under home isolation. In Kapurthala, 10 people tested positive for Covid on Thursday. HOSHIARPUR REPORTS 1 COVID DEATH, 11 NEW CASES JALANDHAR ROUND-UP Hoshiarpur: The district reported one more Covid-19 fatality on Thursday, taking the death toll to 311, while 11 new cases pushed the infection tally to 7,730. Civil Surgeon Dr Jasvir Singh said with the receipt of 1,394 new samples from the people with suspected flu-like symptoms, the total number of samples taken in the district till date has become 2,34,419. As per the reports received from the lab, 2,26,138 are negative, while 2,158 waiting for the reports and 149 are invalid. The number of active cases is 103, while the number of patients who have recovered is 7,316. Dr Singh said on Thursday an 88-year-old woman of Chidial village died at the Civil Hospital Hoshiarpur. OC Samples collected 4,75,131 Negative 4,34,335 Positive 19,926 Deceased 642 Active 372 Discharged 18,912 Sample inappropriate 3,902 Results awaited 2,619 Home isolated 230 So far, no untraceable case of people being reported with the new strain from Britain has been reported either. So we are keeping our fingers crossed. However, the only appeal in the midst of this hope is that people strictly continue to abide by Covid precautions.” While 12,500 health workers from private and government health sectors have been reg- istered to receive the Covid vaccine in its first phase, Dr TP Singh said the vaccine was due to be administered in the coming few weeks. DC Ghanshyam Thori said, “The number of cases is very low these days at 1 per cent. This is the lowest infection rate in the district in the past eight to nine months. We are expecting the vaccine for 12,500 registered health workers in the first phase within January itself. So far, no new patient of the new strain has been reported either in the state. Overall the disease is almost in check at present. We are constantly carrying out contact tracing despite which cases remain low. As long as people continue to take precautions, we hope the coming year will certainly be better in terms of Covid.”