06012021-ATR-01.qxd 1/5/2021 11:21 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar TRIBUNE MC GETS HOOK LOADER, 10 GRAB BUCKET MACHINES TO CLEAN CITY PAGE 2 The MC got a hook loader machine and 10 grab bucket machines to modernise city’s sanitation system. FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY INBRIEF 3-DAY PULSE POLIO DRIVE FROM JAN 17 Tarn Taran: As many as 1,47,574 tiny tots, in the age group of 0-5 years, would be administered polio drops on the first day of the three-day pulse polio drive beginning January 17. Dr Rohit Mehta, Civil Surgeon, presided over a meeting here on Tuesday in this regard and issued instructions. Dr Mehta said for the success of the drive, 636 fixed booths, with 31 transit and 48 mobile teams, have been formed. The department had deputed 2,713 vaccinators and 149 supervisors to have a close watch on the drive, said the Civil Surgeon. In the last two days, members of 1,209 teams will visit house-to-house to administer polio drops to as many as 2,09,537 kids. The block-level officers and the district officers were present at the meeting. OC GURMAT SAMAGAM ON JANUARY 27, 28 Amritsar: To commemorate Baba Hazara Singh of Aladdinpur and Baba Hukam Singh of Wajau Kot, the first martyrs of the Gurdwara Reform Movement (Gurdwara Parbandh Sudhar Lehar), a grand Gurmat (teachings of the Sikh Gurus) event is being organised on January 27 and 28 at Aladdinpur village in Tarn Taran district. The event would be dedicated to the centenary of the SGPC. Shaheed Baba Hazara Singh and Shaheed Baba Hukam Singh got martyred to liberate Gurdwara Sri Darbar Sahib, Tarn Taran, the historic site related to Guru Arjan Dev, from mahants in 1921. Keeping in view their invaluable contribution to the Sikh community, a special Gurmat Samagam is being conducted. TNS THEFT AT CHOHLA SAHIB AGRI BANK Tarn Taran: An incident of theft was reported at the primary cooperative agricultural development bank, Chohla Sahib, 25 km from here, on Monday night. Rachhpal Singh, branch manager, in his complaint to the Chohla Sahib police, said the thieves took 12 bore rifle with 12 cartridges and a printer from the bank. He said the bank belongings, too, were damaged by the thieves. However, they failed to reach till the cash reserves of the bank. The police have registered a case under Sections 457, 380 and 427 of the IPC. oc 23 MORE TEST POSITIVE IN DIST Amritsar: The Health Department reported 23 positive cases of the Covid-19 disease in the district on Tuesday. With the new cases, the count has risen to 14,602. Of these, 15 were contacts of positive cases and eight others were having symptoms of influenza-like illness. On the other hand, the graph of recovered cases rose to 13,800. Now the rate of active cases is 243. No casualty was reported on Tuesday. TNS SOHAIL, ARBAAZ BOOKED FOR VIOLATING COVID-19 NORMS PAGE 3 URVASHI BREAKS INSTA RECORD WITH 33.6 MILLION FOLLOWERS An FIR was registered against Sohail Khan, Arbaaz Khan and Sohail’s son Nirvaan for violating Covid-19 norms. MAX 18°C | MIN 6°C | YESTERDAY MAX 17°C | MIN 9°C SUNSET WEDNESDAY 5:42 PM Double suicide: Police submit challan in court PAGE 4 Urvashi Rautela has crossed the likes of Bollywood hunks Hrithik Roshan (33.3 m) and Varun Dhawan (33.4 m). SUNRISE THURSDAY 7:31 AM WEDNESDAY | 6 JANUARY 2021 | AMRITSAR Rough ride! Bail plea of Sub-Inspector Sandeep Kaur, who was dismissed from service, rejected by court Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 5 The Mohkampura police have submitted a challan in the local court in connection with the suicide of jeweller Vikramjit Singh who had accused Sub-Inspector Sandeep Kaur of blackmailing and extorting money from him. Sandeep Kaur was booked by the Mohkampura police for abetting his suicide while charges of destroying the evidence were later added to the FIR. Vikramjit had ended his life at a hotel room on October 10. Sandeep Kaur He had left suicide notes, video and audio messages before ending his life. The incident shook the holy city as his wife Sukhbir Kaur also committed suicide a day after at her native Navapind village located on Mehta Road here. Two separate FIRs were registered in the double suicide case — one at the Mohkampura police station here and the other at Jandiala Guru in Amritsar rural. Following the incident, the Punjab Government dismissed the SI from her service. Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Harpal Singh confirmed that a challan continued on page 2 Commuters brave heavy rain in Amritsar on Tuesday. Motorists, especially those riding two-wheelers, faced a difficult time crossing the water puddles on the city roads. TRIBUNE PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR Land dispute: Man Pilfered imported scotch A bit over the top? shot at in Majitha diluted in Anngarh: Police Surinder Singh Azad, now 79, has 11 records catalogued in Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 5 Amritpal Singh, a resident of Hamja village falling under the Majitha police station here, was injured when another resident of the same village shot at him over a land dispute on December 31. However, a case was registered only on Monday after a complaint was lodged with the police when the efforts to reach a compromise failed. The victim, Amritpal Singh, told the police that on Thursday evening when he was working in his fields, the accused, identified as Gurpreet Singh, reached the spot and started abusing him. He was armed with a pistol. He said on seeing him, his (Amritpal’s) mother also reached there and urged Gurpreet not to indulge in such violence. Despite this, the accused got enraged and fired at him. He sustained a bullet injury on his leg while Gurpreet fled from the scene. He said his mother Sukhwant Kaur rushed him to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital where he was under treatment. The police said a case on the charge of murder bid and under the Arms Act was registered against Gurpreet while further investigation was under progress. The accused was still at large and raids were on to nab him. Pea trader robbed of ~4.27 lakh at gunpoint The unabated incidents of robberies and snatchings continue to haunt the residents of the holy city. In the latest, a pea trader was robbed by two motorcycleborne armed persons here late Monday evening. The accused snatched a bag containing Rs 4.27 lakh from him. The victim, identified as Gurtejpreet Singh of Liddar village falling under the Beas police station, was going to pay the farmers from whom he had procured the pea crop. Police authorities said that a case had been registered in continued on page 2 Area remained a hotbed for bootleggers for years Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 5 The blended grain scotch whisky pilfered from two tankers confiscated by the Punjab Police was being supplied in Anngarh area for further dilution, distribution and sale. This came to light during the interrogation of four suspects who were caught red-handed by the Punjab Police while pilfering liquor on Chabal Road in Tarn Taran on Sunday. According to the police, they found the names of Bobby and Jagga in the mobiles of four suspects. Though the raids were conducted at the residences of the suspects, both along with their family members had gone underground following the seizure. The police had arrested Dharminder Singh, Chamkaur Singh and Manohar Singh, all residents of Tarn Taran, and Sarvan Singh of Sue Wali Havelian in Sanghna village here. Their fifth accomplice Gursharan Singh of Sanghna village managed to flee from the spot. “We have zeroed in on two bootleggers, identified as Bobby and Jagga, during interrogation and four accused and raids were on to nab them. Investigation revealed that the arrested accused used to supply the pilfered imported scotch whisky in the Anngarh area falling under the Amritsar city police,” said Maninder Singh, SHO, Gharinda police station. For years, Anngarh remained a hotbed for bootleggers. Acting on a tip-off, the Punjab Police along with Excise Department officials had confiscated two tankers containing 42,000 litres of 3-yearold blended grain scotch whisky worth Rs 2 crore here on Sunday. The accused were pilfering the blended grain scotch whisky on Chabal Road in Tarn Taran. The seized liquor was meant for United Spirits Limited at Khasa and was imported from a foreign consignor – Diageo Brands BV at Amsterdam, Netherlands. It arrived at Nava Sheva dry port in Mumbai. A preliminary probe found that the accused used to pilfer liquor from tankers and put it in 200-ltr drums which would be further sold at Rs 10,000 per drum. After dilution, it would be sold to liquor smugglers. They had planned to pilfer three drums of alcohol while transporting the remaining at the Khasa distillery. The police said the accused were hired by a Haryanabased contractor, identified as Satish alias Tau, working for a transportation company. “We are yet to nab him and his arrest would further expose the entire nexus,” said police sources. A case under relevant sections of the Excise Act and different sections of the IPC, including fraud and criminal conspiracy, has been registered against them. NEWS IN THE WINTER OF DISSENT Majha House organises discussion with founders of Trolley Times Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 5 The Majha House organised an online discussion with the founders of the newspaper — Trolley Times — that emerged during the agitation of farmers. The discussion had eminent journalist and author P Sainath as one of the speakers, apart from the founders of Trolley Times — Surmeet Maavi, Navkiran Naat, Gurdeep Singh Dhaliwal and Jassi Sangha. The bi-weekly newsletter was launched in support of farmers’ agitation. Talking about the newspaper, Surmeet, who has a journalism background, said since the true news of the peasant movement was not reaching out to people through the mainstream media, he came up with the idea of Trolley Times. “It is an attempt to bridge the communication gap created by the mainstream media between those sitting in protest and the leaders and also clears the confu- One of the founders of Trolley Times Navkiran Naat (left) and eminent journalist and author P Sainath during an online session on Tuesday. sion regarding the issue for the rest of the country,” said Maavi. The bi-weekly newsletter published in Punjabi and Hindi has soon become popular for the very ideals it stands for — the significance of free, unbiased news. “There are requests from various provinces of India to start their versions as well. There are proposals to print it not only from India, but from Australia and UK as well,” Maavi said. Educator and poet Prof SS Bahl, who was in conversation with the pannelists, agreed that even in difficult times, people have chosen to put their trust in the medium of newspaper. “Leaders such as Gandhi, Patel and Nehru conveyed the right news to people from the newspaper itself. It has c m y b also been seen in this movement that gender-determined roles in society are also changing, where women are at Singhu border with men, who are also seen engaged in kitchen works, while young men are making rotis and cooking,” he said. P Sainath, while speaking about the issue and the ripples it has created, said even earlier movements like the Green Revolution or Globalisation adversely affected the farmers. “But because they did not have access to information and means of proper communication at that time, they could not stand together and activate a movement. It’s not like this today because we have the support of social media, but this four-page newsletter is bringing awareness among people,” he said. the Limca Book of Records Surinder Singh Azad shows trophies won during his eventful career. Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service AMRITSAR, January 5 The Limca Book of Records seems to be his favourite book of all time. After all, Surinder Singh Azad has 11 feats listed to his name in it. Determined to find a place in the Guinness Book of World Records, Azad had developed a penchant for setting records when he learnt that he could expand his chest by 9 inches (22.8 cm). The normal expansion is not more than 6.3 cm. This achievement was acknowledged in 1990 and unlocked a desire to thread various extraordinary feats that were to follow in the coming years. Looking back at his eventful journey, he says: “I always wanted to do something exceptional.” So, he started exercises like bench press and 1,000 pushups and sit-ups daily to expand his chest. The golden ager had even ventured on his scooter from Amritsar to Pinjore and back, covering 534 km in fourth gear, this was in 1993, and bagged him a record for the second time. He claims that he has been driving the twowheeler in the fourth gear ever since he bought it in 1979. It fetched him the third national record. For Azad the mantra is making something out of nothing. Even trivial matters, like snapping fingers and clapping, have got him recognition. “Though records like snapping fingers and clapping may sound amusing and comical, but I have put in my best efforts to achieve them,” he quips. The 79-year old, in the year 1997, registered two records — one for clapping 12,178 times and the other for snapping his fingers 11,510 times in an hour each. He snapped his fingers 290 times in a minute, which paved the way for sixth record. Riding back in the day, his seventh record even baffled the engineers at Bajaj Auto Ltd as he had driven his scooter for 70 km in a litre. It seems he really likes his scooter, for it piled more records. He created the eighth by driving the slowest scooter ever in fourth gear ie 2.35 km per hour, while the ninth followed for driving the scooter (no shift in gear) with 10 pillion passengers. Come 2000, the final duo of records were etched which raised the number to 11, ie rotating the wrist 292 times in one minute and rotating his arm 136 times in a minute. Even today, Azad has not been letting the advancing age get better of him. He knows the importance of keeping fit. So, the retired superintendent of Customs and Excise Department walks 15 km daily. Perhaps, the fever of adding more records to the already brimming cup of glories hasn’t come off yet. He claims that he is the only retired person whose 11 records are listed in the Limca Book of Records. Some other feats which he had shown to the committee of Limca Book of Records include clapping and snapping fingers simultaneously for 6,500 times each.