12012021-LT-01.qxd 1/12/2021 12:18 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana TRIBUNE SWACHH SURVEKHSAN: RAISE AWARENESS, OFFICIALS TOLD PAGE 2 MC Commissioner conducted a meeting with officials to review the arrangements regarding the Swachh Survekshan. FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY SKY Thirty booked in clash over land dispute Our Correspondent Ludhiana, January 11 The Dehlon police have booked at least 30 persons belonging to two rival groups which clashed and beat up each other over a land dispute in Paddi village on Saturday. Two persons each from the two rival groups along with their 30 or more unidentified accomplices face charges under Sections 323, 341, 506, 148 and 149, IPC, while in the cross FIR, the accused and their accomplices have been booked under Sections 323, 324, 508 and 34 of the IPC. The police said Kulwinder Singh, a resident of Paddi, and Rajiv Singla, a property dealer of Dugro, from one group and Jasvir Singh, along with his son Anmoljit Singh, residents of Khanpur village from the rival group, were booked in the case and further investigation to identify their accomplices was in progress. PAGE 3 SHAHBAZ KHAN TO STAR IN NEW SERIES GAME OF THE SEXES SONU OPENS UP ON PROVIDING SMARTPHONES TO STUDENTS “It’s a cricket-based series and I am excited to be a part of a different show,” the actor says. MAX 16°C | MIN 6°C | YESTERDAY MAX 16°C | MIN 8°C SUNSET TUESDAY 5:45 PM The actor says: “I have realised a lot of students missed their online classes as they didn’t have smartphones.” SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 7:25 AM CM to launch Buddha Nullah rejuvenation project today Will interact with traders; Capt’s visit to give new lease of life to polluted Sutlej tributary Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Ludhiana, January 11 Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh will launch the Rs 840-crore rejuvenation project of highly polluted Buddha Nullah, a seasonal tributary of the Sutlej, and will interact with traders in the city on Tuesday. The Chief Minister will arrive at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, by air at 1 pm and remain there for two hours before his departure, scheduled at 3 pm, a top government functionary told The Tribune here today. During his visit to the city, Captain Amarinder will interact with the traders about their problems and demands. While Food and Civil Supplies Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who is a local MLA, will be present, Cabinet Ministers Manpreet Singh Badal (Finance), Sunder Sham Arora (Industries and Commerce), and OP Soni (Medical Education and Research) will join the interaction through videoconferencing from their respective stations at Bathinda, Jalandhar, and Amritsar. The CM’s visit will give a MORE IN THE OFFING Besides, the improvement of environment micro-forestation, release of 200 cusecs of clean water from the canal and landscaping and beautification along the Buddha Nullah have also been planned in the next phase. new lease of life to one of the most polluted nullahs, which runs almost parallel to the Sutlej through most of Ludhiana district, including 14km in Ludhiana city, before merging with the Sutlej. Under the multi-crore rejuvenation plan, the existing 625 MLD untreated domestic waste water will be discharged directly into the nullah and the future discharge will be checked. Of the total three common effluent treatment plants (CETPs) with a total capacity of 105 MLD, being constructed to check the discharge of untreated domestic and partially treated domestic and industrial effluent directly into the nullah, a CETP with 15 MLD treatment capacity was already operational while the other two will be functional by the end of March. The major work under the rejuvenation of the 47.55-kmlong Buddha Nullah has been awarded for domestic waste water management. While the capital cost of the project will be Rs 519 crore, the 10-year operation and maintenance will cost Rs 321 crore. The entire project will be completed within two years. PAGE 4 While the project will be completely in operation by November 2022, some components will be put to operation earlier. The scope of work included setting up of two new sewage treatment plants (STPs) with tertiary filtration for treating 285 MLD waste water, two effluent treatment plants for treatment of 6 MLD waste water from two dairy clusters, refurbishment of four existing STPs with treatment capacity of 418 MLD, infrastructure for transfer of waste water overflowing into the nullah to the STPs and 10-year operation and maintenance of the entire infrastructure. As per the agreement, the contractor will provide Rs 55crore credit for gas generated from two existing STPs (UASB technology plants), and will take care of additional unforeseen works such as transfer of domestic/ industrial waste water and additional treatment capacity for domestic waste water, worth Rs 22 crore. Work allotted The work has been awarded to KIPL Limited and GVPR Engineers Limited, a joint venture, after an online bidding process. The JV has experience of executing several sewerage and STP projects at Aurangabad, Navi Mumbai, Nashik, Udaipur, Goa and Tiptur (Karnataka). The Aurangabad project, costing Rs 464 crore, included construction, operation and maintenance of 161 MLD STP The agency was also . executing sewerage and STP works at Guntur, Bengaluru, Sagar (Madhya Pradesh), Palwal, Chennai, Delawas (Rajasthan), Noida, Vietnam and Ukraine. MC initiative The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation (MC) has also initiated a massive effort to tackle the problem of solid waste dumping into the Buddha nullah, with the help of fencing, solid waste collection points, cleaning of debris, strict vigilance with CCTV cameras and creating awareness among people for solid waste management. A special awareness campaign was launched on December 28 last with the help of NCC and NSS volunteers of seven local colleges. TUESDAY | 12 JANUARY 2021 | LUDHIANA 15 +ve; one death Tribune News Service Ludhiana, January 11 Fifteen persons tested positive, while one lost his life to Covid in the district on Monday. The total positive cases have now reached 25,117, while there have been 973 fatalities in the district since the Covid spread. There were 294 active cases in the district, while 53 were home quarantined today. Two patients were on ventilator support and one belonged to Ludhiana district and one hails from outside Ludhiana. The person who lost his life today was a 57-year-old female from Atam Nagar who was admitted in the DMCH and was also a patient of hypertension, diabetes and coronary artery disease. Those who tested positive today included one person who was contact of a positive person, eight referred from the OPDs and flu corners, one inter-state traveller, two patients of SARI, while the tracing of three was in progress. Till now, 23,847 patients have recovered from Covid in the district. According to the Health Department, till date, a total of 5,60,659 samples have been taken, out of which the reports of 5,58,988 samples have been received, of which 5,30,097 samples were found negative, while the reports of 1,671 samples were pending. The total number of patients related to Ludhiana is 25,117, while 3,774 patients belong to other districts/states. Civil Surgeon Dr Sukhjeevan Kakkar said awareness and information was the only key to prevent this disease. He added that anyone and everyone could prevent this disease with a few basic precautions such as maintaining adequate social distance, washing hands with soap and water and wearing mask. Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma appealed to the residents to adhere to all safety protocols listed by the government. COVID-19 CONTROL ROOM ■ For Home Isolation: 78147-64759 COVID-19 FIGURES SAMPLES POSITIVE ACTIVE DEATHS 5,60,659 25,117 294 973 ■ 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 NGO to provide Need to spread awareness among homeless free education to The MC night shelter at Ghoda Colony near Cheema Chowk remains 75 per cent vacant these days underprivileged STATE OF SHELTERS PART – IV ON JOB, SAY CIVIC BODY OFFICIALS Harshraj Singh Shivani Bhakoo Tribune News Service Ludhiana, January 11 In a commitment to do something for the underprivileged and needy, Nehru Sidhant Kender Trust today announced to provide free education to children in the city. The entire expenses of education, stationery, hiring teachers and other overheads will be borne by the Trust except for land, for which any partner is required. Education in the school will be on a similar pattern as in Sat Paul Mittal School but it will be free for the poor. Rakesh Bharti Mittal, president of the Trust, said it was a dream, which the Trust wants to fulfil as soon as possible. He said: “We need a Good Samaritan who can provide us the land for serving the noble cause.” “The building will be constructed by us and all other expenses to run the school will be borne by the NSKT. We want a partner who can provide a land, approachable to children in the city. It would be a coeducational institute,” Mittal said. Today, he also announced meritorious scholarships for UG courses for underprivileged students. To provide a major thrust to education, the NSKT, founded in 1983 by Late Sat Paul Mittal, announced that it would set up a K-12 school starting from primary and scaling up to elementary and secondary in a phased manner for underprivileged children. The guiding philosophy behind setting up of the school is to ensure the underprivileged Nehru Sidhant Kender Trust will construct building for school, bear entire expenses of education of children children belonging to the lowincome category in the city is provided with an access to quality education. The Trust will lay emphasis on the ‘girl child’. Keeping in mind the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) for socially and economically disadvantaged sections (currently at 16-22 per cent range in comparison to the National GER at approximately 26 per cent), the Trust is instituting meritorious scholarships for UG courses for underprivileged students. The scholarship will be awarded to exceptional students from economically disadvantaged background with focus on the girl child to pursue fulltime UG studies at any university of their choice. The scholarships have been instituted to help meritorious students belonging from economically weak background to pursue higher education. “Further, we are pleased to enhance the scholarship amount for district toppers and the objective behind it is to hand hold disadvantaged bright students to pursue their courses at the graduate level. Thus, the Trust will support full education of the toppers for graduation,” he said. Over the years, the Trust has been actively involved in helping the poor and weaker sections of the society with a special focus on education. Tribune News Service Ludhiana, January 11 The night shelter of the Municipal Corporation (MC) at Ghoda Colony near Cheema Chowk generally remains about 75 per cent vacant these days. Meanwhile, many homeless can be seen sleeping on roadsides or under the flyovers in the city. In the absence of direction boards or wayfinding signage, it is difficult to find the location of this night shelter that was constructed around four years ago. A number of homeless persons in areas like Samrala Chowk, Industrial areas and others are not aware about the location of The night shelter at Ghoda Colony in Ludhiana. HIMANSHU MAHAJAN this night shelter that falls under the MC’s Zone B. Amid the cold wave, just 20-30 persons visit this shelter these days. The officials claimed that there was arrangement for 130 persons in two big halls of the night shelter. Notably, it is the only night shelter of the city where fold- ing beds are available for the visitors. These beds have been placed by maintaining social distance for the prevention of Covid-19. At other three night shelters, beddings are placed on floor. The sanitary conditions at the night shelter of Ghoda Colony were looking better than other three night shel- MC SDO Arvind Aggarwal said a city bus had been deployed to bring the homeless from different locations. We motivate the homeless to visit the night shelter. Potable water is supplied at the shelter. We had earlier got the blankets washed. Superintending Engineer Parveen Singla said they would also take measures to display direction boards regarding the night shelter. ters of the MC, Ludhiana. Issues needing attention Like other nights shelters, there is no provision of washing or cleaning of used blankets and bedding covers at Ghoda Colony night shelter. There is also no provision of food or tea for needy persons. A water puri- fier for drinking water is required to be installed at the shelter. A city resident, Jagjeet Singh, said, “The MC should create awareness among the homeless persons about the night shelter. It must install signboards to indicate the direction to the night shelter from Cheema Chowk, Transport Nagar side, Samrala Chowk and nearby areas. Moreover, the street vendors, shopkeepers as well as residents of nearby areas should also be made aware about the night shelter facility so that these persons can further share information with homeless persons. If provision of food is made available, I think more homeless persons can be motivated to stay at the night shelter during winter season.” City zoo on red alert, special precautions in place BIRD FLU SCARE Chicken biryani goes off the menu of Himalayan black bears Manav Mander Tribune News Service Ludhiana, January 11 The Ludhiana zoo authorities are on red alert and extra precautions are being taken amid the bird flu scare. Samples of bird droppings are being sent regularly for examination as a safety measure. The situation has resulted in chicken biryani going off the palate of the two Himalayan black bears at the zoo, and they now being fed vegetarian khichdi instead. From last year, the zoo authorities had started giving chicken to Himalayan black bears Kaalu and Rennu in Samples of bird droppings are being sent regularly for test from zoo. the form of chicken biryani and since the winter season is on, special care is being given towards the diet of the animals, with the intake of meat and chicken increased. “On the recommendation of the doctor, we started giving c m y b 500 gm of chicken to each bear in the form of chicken biryani, but now we have shifted to khichdi made of rice and sabut moong daal,” said Narinder Singh, in charge of the zoo. Telling about the diet of both bears, he added that in the morning, they were given 200 gm of bread, three bananas, 500 gm of cucumber, 100 gm of carrot and 100 gm of honey. In the dinner, they were given chicken biryani which has now been swapped with khichdi prepared by 500 gm of rice and 500 gm of moong daal and roti prepared from 250 gm of makki atta. “We used to give 500 gm of chicken meat per day per animal mixed with rice, but it has been discontinued from January 4 due to precaution from bird flu. The lone tiger, Chirag, is being given buffalo meat as usual, said district forest officer (wildlife) Neeraj Gupta. Gupta said they had received instructions from the Central Zoo Authority of India and they were following the same and the public was requested not to go near the animals and told to maintain distance from them. “The entrance to the zoo, vehicles reaching here and bird sections are disinfected regularly. Monitoring teams have been formed that regularly keep an eye on the movement of the birds. They are inspecting and watching the birds every hour and the samples of bird droppings are also being sent at regular intervals for testing as a precautionary measure,” added Gupta. Councillor from ward No. 20, Navneet Singh, said, “I will raise the demand for the installation of direction boards at different locations like Cheema Chowk and other areas to indicate the way leading to the night shelter. However, many residents of Ghoda Colony are aware about the night shelter.” For the prevention of coronavirus, masks and sanitisers were earlier unavailable at the night shelter. But, an official said that these had been made available two days ago. MC SDO Arvind Aggarwal said there were two halls, one each for men and women. Superintending Engineer (B&R) at MC’s Zone B, Parveen Singla, said they make all efforts to bring the homeless persons to the night shelter. Nine arrested with banned Chinese string Our Correspondent Ludhiana, January 11 Though the city police have stepped up their drive to effectively enforce the ban orders on the Chinese string to save people and animals from its injuries during the Lohri celebrations, more cases of violations are coming up. As the festival is two days away, the police arrested as many as nine persons from various parts of the city and seized 137 reels of the banned string from their possession. continued on page 2