09012021-JTR-01.qxd 1/8/2021 11:22 PM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar TRIBUNE IN PICS: WOODWORK WIZARDS OF HOSHIARPUR & INLAY ART PAGE 2 Tribune takes you through the ins and outs of the superlative wood inlay art being done at Wood Park in Hoshiarpur. FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY DID PRIYANKA CHOPRA BREAK COVID LOCKDOWN RULES IN UK? PAGE 3 Reports of Priyanka Chopra and her mother breaking the lockdown rules in London were doing rounds on internet. MAX 17°C | MIN 6°C | YESTERDAY MAX 16°C | MIN 7°C SUNSET SATURDAY 5:42 PM WATCH OUT: NACHIKET LELE ALL SET TO WOW INDIAN IDOL FANS Nachiket will not only sing in male as well as female voice, but also perform dressed as half man and half woman. SUNRISE SUNDAY 7:28 AM SATURDAY | 9 JANUARY 2021 | JALANDHAR Bird flu scare brings down egg, chicken prices by 50% Tanda rape, murder: Court fixes Jan 19 for next hearing RDDL to stop Covid testing facility to concentrate on avian flu Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, January 8 As bird flu scare has hit the adjoining states, including Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, poultry traders in Punjab have started witnessing drop in sales by nearly 50 per cent. Even wholesale egg sellers and vendors said there has been a significant drop in the number of customers in the last two-three days. The egg sellers said earlier, they used to sell 1,000 trays a day and now, the number has come down to 700 trays. They said a tray of 30 eggs, which costed ~180 was now being sold for ~100. The wholesale price of a broiler has come down to ~90 from ~145. Not just the wholesalers, even retailers and owners of dhabas and restaurants said sale of chicken and egg has decreased manifold. Rajesh Babu, an omelette seller, said, “The reports of DISEASE DIAGNOSTIC LAB ISSUES GUIDELINES ■ Do not consume raw poultry meat and eggs. Cook meat at or above 70 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes. ■ Wholesalers and retailers should use gloves and masks while handling poultry products ■ Waste and used water by those running poultry business should not be spilled in public or market places. Entry and exit points to poultry farms should be disinfected. ■ Attendants at poultry farms should wear protective gear. Any unusual mortality should be reported immediately bird flu have clearly impacted sales. Even my regular customers did not visit today despite such a cold weather.” Jaswinder Singh, a representative of the poultry association, rued that sales have come down drastically. “Rates of poultry items have fallen to half. Jalandhar is a fairly good market where around 50,000 broilers get sold daily, but within two-three days of reporting of bird flu, buyers have vanished all of a sudden,” he said. Dr MP Singh, Joint Director, Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (RDDL), Jalandhar, said, “There is no need to panic as of now. There is no case in Punjab so far. We have decided to step up our testing daily to 1,500 or so. We will close the Covid testing facility as of now to concentrate on the spread of bird flu testing.” Charanjeet Sarangal, microbiologist, RDDL, said, “There is no need to panic as properly cooked chicken and eggs do no harm. Also, there has been no report of any outbreak of bird flu in domestic poultry in Punjab in the last one decade.” PAGE 4 Farmers of Nawanshahr take out a tractor march to protest agriculture laws on Friday. TRIBUNE PHOTO Nawanshahr women make their presence felt in tractor march Jalandhar, January 8 A tractor march was held in Nawanshahr on Friday. Members gave a call to the residents to take part in tractor march on January 26. The farmers marched on 250 tractors today. Women farmers took the lead and showed the way. Farmers marched under the Kirti Kisan Union banner. They said it was necessary to show solidarity to the cause. The march was started from Asmaanpur village and covered Sahaabpur, Majara Kalan, Majara Khurd, Mirpur, Jadla, Daulatpur, Birowal, Bhan Majara, Kishanpura, Pallian Khurd, Chokra villages. A member of the union Bhupinder Singh Warraich said farmers would not return before getting all three laws shelved. “We will be joining them on January 26. We won’t let the movement to become weak,” he said. The women members have also made their presence felt on a vast level. They have already formed nine committees, which not only includes farmers, but also women belonging to all sectors and areas and it is being counted as an achievement. The committees will have active women who will further decide the next course of action to strengthen the farmers’ movement. — TNS Hoshiarpur, January 8 The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Neelam Arora on Friday fixed January 19 for hearing the case in which a six-year-old girl was raped, killed and her body was set on fire by the accused in Tanda area. Victim’s counsel Advocate Naveen Jairath said the accused in the case moved an application in the court to consider the accused Surpreet Singh as lunatic. Surpreet is currently under treatment in a Amritsar hospital. The court fixed January 19 as the next date for considering the said application and hearing of the main case. On October 22, a 6-year-old girl of a migrant labourer residing in a village under police station Tanda was raped and murdered. The half-burnt dead body of the girl was recovered from a cattle shed of the accused. The police had booked Surpreet , a resident of the same village and his grandfather Surjit Singh for rape, murder and burning the body of the victim. — OC 97 participate in Covid vaccination dry run Cheema cries land scam Aparna Banerji Tribune News Service Jalandhar, January 8 The Covid-19 vaccine dry run was held in four health facilities in the district on Friday. As many as 97 beneficiaries (health workers) participated in it. It was held at SGL Charitable Hospital, the Civil Hospital, the Primary Health Centre, Jamsher, and the Urban Health Centre, Basti Gujan. As many as 12,420 health workers have been registered in the district for the first phase of the Covid vaccination programme. Fortyseven teams have been formed in the district (23 for urban areas) which would administer vaccine in 47 centres in the district. Cold chain points have been set up in CHCs and Sub Divisional Hospitals with a storage capacity of over 12 lakh vaccines in Jalandhar. A three-room set-up each was established in the four health facilities where the dry run took place. From a waiting area, the beneficiary was routed to a vaccination room and subsequently to an observation room. The identification of the health worker was verified by a security guard (and matched with available list) followed by ID proof fed to the comput- 39 more test +ve in district Jalandhar, January 8 With 39 more cases, total number of Covid-19 positive cases in the district reached 20,129 today. The number of deceased persons in Jalandhar remained 650. The active cases in district now stand at 262. Kapurthala district saw six persons testing positive for Covid today. Three deaths, 13 new cases in Hoshiarpur The district reported three more deaths due to the Covid19 contagion, pushing the tally to 319 on Friday. With 13 more persons testing positive for the contagion, the total number of positive patients rose to 7,840 in the district. Besides, there are 91 active cases of the virus and the number of the cured patients is 7,430. — TNS/OC A doctor administers a mock Covid-19 vaccine to a medico in Jalandhar on Friday. er, the visitor sent to the waiting area and then to the vaccination room. The vaccination protocol was duly followed to apprise patients and staff of the final protocol they would have to follow. The AEFI (adverse events following immunisation) kits have also been placed in all 47 centres in preparation for a reaction or adverse affects of the vaccine if any. In all, 159 private hospitals in Jaland- har have sent lists of staff which has to be vaccinated. Officials said the staff did not have the name of the vaccine or the date of administering yet. District Immunisation Officer, Jalandhar, Dr Rakesh Chopra said, “All beneficiaries routed to the vaccination room would be sent only after verifying their identity and whether their names are on the list of beneficiaries. A beneficiary, administered a Covid vaccine, is told the name of the vaccine, the future date of the dose and asked to contact the nodal officer if they face any problem. The entire set up has been readied for the Covid vaccination.” “It was a rehearsal. The name of the vaccine, which is to be administered, and the date of the first vaccine have not been announced yet,” added Dr Chopra. Hoshiarpur: As per the instructions of the Government of India, a dry run was carried out at three locations — the District Civil Hospital, the Community Health Centre, Bhunga, and IVY Hospital — here on Friday. Inspecting the dry run at the Civil Hospital Vaccination Centre, Deputy Commissioner Apneet Riyait said the purpose was to review the preparations to be made before the arrival of the vaccine. During the dry run, the mock vaccine was given to the vaccine centre from the main store. Besides, a list of 25 registered beneficiaries, matching of beneficiary names as per the list on the portal by vaccination authorities, a 30-minute exercise for name verification, vaccination, counselling and monitoring was done. The line-up process and awareness content performance were also monitored during the dry run. Now, summons for revenue cases to be sent via SMS, email Tribune News Service Jalandhar, January 8 To ensure speedy redressal of revenue cases, Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori on Friday said summons pertaining to revenue cases would be served through short message service (SMS), email or WhatsApp soon. Participating in a video-conference presided over by Financial Commissioner Revenue Vishwajeet Khanna, the Deputy Commissioner said following the amendment of the Punjab Land Revenue (Amendment) Act, 2020, this new service of delivering summons through digital mode, would be implemented. He said the service would not only help to quicken the pace of cases, but would also clear the pendency. Thori added that after sending summons digitally, officers would keep physical record of summons for future purpose. He informed that the Revenue Court Management System (RCMS), which was developed by National Informatics Centre (NIC) to facilitate management and monitoring of court cases (revenue courts) was being effectively implemented. Thori said online services of demarcation of land and nonencumbrance certificates were being initiated through the RCMS. He said the applicant just needs to apply for demarcation online. The Deputy Commissioner said in case, the applicant fails to apply online, he/she could either visit Fard Kendra, Sewa Kendra or CRO Office and submit the application. He said the RCMS was designed specifically for revenue courts in the state, which include Financial Commissioner, Divisional Commissioner, Director Land Records, Deputy Commissioner, SDM, Tehsildar, and Naib Tehsildars courts. Thori said this system has details of properties under litigation from the land record database along with petitioners and respondents. He said besides, generation of summoning notices, the system automatically generates a date-wise cause list of different courts. The DC said all case-related documents, including interim orders, final judgments, and others could be uploaded through this system. c m y b Alleges prime govt property sold at throwaway price Tribune News Service Jalandhar, January 8 Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Punjab Legislative Assembly Harpal Singh Cheema on Friday sought the resignation of Cabinet Minister Sunder Sham Arora alleging a land scam. Cheema alleged a prime property of Punjab Infotech had been sold at a throwaway price. Cheema sought a CBI inquiry into the case and said if the matter was not investigated the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would approach the High Court and gherao the CM. Cheema alleged that plot number A-32, Phase-8, Industrial Area, Mohali, for 31 acres was allotted by Punjab Infotech to JCT Limited in September 1984. He alleged the unit was sold by the official liquidator. Cheema alleged it was staggering as to why the MD of Punjab Infotech, acted as a mute Leader of Opposition Harpal Singh Cheema along with AAP leaders holds a press conference in Jalandhar on Friday. TRIBUNE PHOTO spectator and allowed the sale of the property for mere Rs 95 crore for 31 acres, whereas the net worth of the prime location was between Rs 350 to Rs 400 crore. Cheema alleged, “An asset management company was made as a facade to purchase the prime property from the official liquidator and then pass it on to the close associates of Industries Minister . The buyer of 31 acres of prime land, paid only 50 per cent of the sale price that is Rs 45 crore,” he said. Meanwhile, minister Sunder Sham Arora said, “The AAP is raising a baseless issue for political mileage. The Industries Department has answered on the issue twice earlier. The auction was held by a Central government agency as per the orders of the High Court. Our department has nothing to do with the sale.” 2 MC branches at loggerheads Building branch wants Town Planning panel to act against illegal colonisers Tribune News Service Jalandhar, January 8 Members of the building branch ad hoc committee gave an ultimatum to officials of the town planning wing of the MC on Friday. During the meeting which was attended by the committee members and wing officials, Vicky Kalia, one of the active members of the committee, said that if the town planning wing officials did not take action against erring colonisers they would take the matter to the Vigilance Department and write to the Local Bodies Department Secretary. Recently, members of the Building and Roads (B&R) Ad-hoc Committee met Mayor Jagdish Raja and asked him to initiate action against a coloniser who had carved out as many as 18 colonies on Building branch ad-hoc committee members at a meeting with Town Planning wing officials in Jalandhar. TRIBUNE PHOTO 105 acres in the Jalandhar Cantonment segment. Vicky Kalia, a member of the panel, said the coloniser only paid Rs 8 lakh for the same and owed Rs 20 crore to the MC. Apart from that, the ad hoc committee members have also given the list of 14 colonies in the Rama Mandi area to the town planning wing officials and have told them that the colonies are illegal. Kalia said, “Even the officials have accepted that four- five new colonies are being constructed. We have asked them to install a board mentioning that the colonies are illegal.” “A meeting of the sanction committee was held recently, in which the issue of non-pay- ment of dues by colonisers was raised. The committee members had asked the MC Commissioner, who is chairman of the committee, to recover dues from all colonisers who had just given 10 per cent of the payment to the department, and remaining 90 per cent was still pending. But I have got to know that only two or three colonisers have given their dues. I have asked for the details,” he said. “I don’t understand one thing. Even after highlighting several times that illegal colonies are coming up in the city, why isn’t there any kind of action? There is no seriousness. But we have also decided that we don’t sit quietly and let the guilty walk freely. The MC can recover high amount of money from colonisers, but nobody is doing anything,” Kalia added.