05022021-ATR-01.qxd 2/4/2021 10:57 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar TRIBUNE INDIA-ISRAEL PROJECT UNLOCKS NEW WAYS OF CULTIVATION PAGE 2 In pics: The Tribune gives you a glance of foreign techniques, primarily alien to us, being used for growing veggies. FORECAST RAIN, THUNDERSHOWERS INBRIEF SINGHU ‘ATTACK’: FARMER CREMATED Tarn Taran: Joginder Singh (63), a farmer of Dall (Khalra) village, who died on February 3 during the farmers’ protest, was cremated at his native village Dall, 45 km from here. Joginder Singh was seriously injured in the Singhu border attack on the intervening night of January 28-29. The attackers attacked with petrol shell and other weapons when the farmers were sleeping. He was admitted to a Delhi hospital where he succumbed to the injuries on Wednesday morning. His body was wrapped in Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee’s flag, and was brought to his native village today. Gurlal Singh Pandori, Harpreet Singh Sidhwan were among the others who paid their tributes to the departed soul. They alleged that the attack on farmers was a well thought plan to foil the farmers’ agitation. OC MAKE ‘MISSION 100%’ A SUCCESS Tarn Taran: Education Secretary Krishan Kumar called all sections of the department to work for accomplishing the ‘Mission Shat Pratishat’ in the coming annual exams. He addressed the officials of TarnTaran and Amritsar in a meeting called in Government Secondary School, Pandori Pola, 6 km from here. The meeting was attended by the school heads, principal, mentors, district mentors, block mentors, block nodal officers, Zila Sikhiya Sudhar team members and district education officers of both the districts. The Secretary minutely observed the PowerPoint presentations prepared by the school heads showing their micro planning based on the data analysis of their respective schools for accomplishing “Mission Shat Pratishat”. “The Education Department has chalked out a meticulous plan for achieving ‘Mission Shat Pratishat’. ONE DEATH, SEVEN NEW CASES IN DIST Amritsar: With one death in the district due to Covid-19, the toll has reached 53 on Thursday. The deceased has been identified as Jatinderpal Singh (60) from Sant Avenue near Bhagtawala. The district health authorities have also reported seven new cases with which the total count has increased to 15,091. The new cases include five Influenza-likeillness cases and two contacts of positive patients. Meanwhile, with the recovery of seven more patients, the total recovery count has increased to 14,369. The district at present has 138 active cases. TNS AKSHAY, SAINA TROLLED OVER IDENTICAL TWEETS ON PROTEST Akshay and the badminton ace faced trolls for posting identical tweets about the ongoing farmers’ protest. MAX 15°C | MIN 8°C | YESTERDAY MAX 15°C | MIN 9°C Tarn Taran: A jatha of farmers under the banner of ‘Sach Da Sath’ (SDS) an NGO, left for the Delhi borders from here on Wednesday. While leaving for Delhi, farmers organised a rally, against the three farm laws and demanded for their repeal with immediate effect. Gurdev Singh Sandhu, head of the SDS, said many people of the region had expressed their desire to stand in solidarity with farmers. Famers left in several vehicles such as tractor-trolleys, cars, trucks and jeeps. OC SUNSET FRIDAY 6:08 PM SHE SPECIALISES IN GIVING GOLD PIECES A NEW LOOK PAGE 4 Preserving the essence of old gold, but giving it a fresh look is what this jewellery designer specialises in. SUNRISE SATURDAY 7:20 AM FRIDAY | 5 FEBRUARY 2021 | AMRITSAR Students, police come Septuagenarian stitches flags for farmers’ protest to blows outside GNDU Her grandson says they will distribute flags for free Manmeet Singh Gill Protest against offline exams turns ugly outside varsity campus Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 4 The ongoing protests by students on the matter of offline exams being conducted by GNDU turned ugly on Thursday with scuffle between the students and police. The segment of students, around 800, protesting under the Student Sangharsh Morcha had gathered outside varsity gates till evening to demonstrate against recent announcement of datesheets by the university. During the protest, students and police came to blows and police also lathicharged to disperse the protesters. Navdeep Singh, a student of MA Political Science from Jalandhar, who has been leading the protests, said, “Lot of students got hurt while the police tried to disperse us forcefully. We have been protesting against the decision to hold offline exams since January. Our demands have not been addressed and have given the university two days’ time to consider our demands, failing which we will carry out protests across Jalandhar, Batala and Amrit- A police offical thwarts protesters outside GNDU gate in Amritsar on Thursday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR sar.” He said they would also gherao the offices and residences of principals of the affiliated colleges in their cities. Most of the students belong to affiliated colleges or constituent colleges from Jalandhar, Batala, Amritsar and Gurdaspur. “The university carried out online classes throughout the pandemic, never really addressing problems like con- nectivity issues for students hailing from rural belt. Due to these issues the syllabus remained incomplete, while the university says that offline exams will comprise of complete syllabus. Many of us are also preparing for competitive exams. If other universities in country can take online exams considering the student grievances, why is GNDU risking the implications for stu- dents?” said another protester. While the students claimed that Dean Academic Affairs has assured them of a solution, the university authorities maintained that the offline exams will not be rescheduled. “We will carry out offline exams from February 15 and any resolution brought by students in regard to their issues is welcomed,” said KS Kahlon, Registrar, GNDU. Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 4 While many hands have been contributing to the farmers’ protest in one way or the other, a septuagenarian here has been doing her bit by sewing flags which are to be distributed for free. While talking to The Tribune, Avtar Kaur of Malawali, said: “I conceived the idea of sewing flags when I overheard a conversation between my son and grandson. They were rueing about high prices of flags in the market and the poor quality of the cloth being used for flags available in market.” She immediately asked her grandson to bring cloth from the market. “Wasting no time, I dusted my old sewing machine and oiled its parts. At my age, there is no time to waste,” she quipped. “I have stitched around 120 flags in the past three days. My grandson has got a large stamp prepared with which we would stamp the logo on the flags,” she said. The flags being prepared do not have name of any particular farmer union. “As most of the people who are attending the protests are not associated with any one union and are concerned with the cause, we Avtar Kaur stitches farmer flags near Amritsar. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR deliberately chose ‘Kisan Ekta Zindabad’ over the name of any farmer union,” said Avtar Kaur’s grandson, Gursahib Singh, who is pursuing a law degree presently. Gursahib said they would distribute flags among the locals who would like to use these on their cars. “If you go to Chandigarh now, you would find many people have kisan flags and ‘no farmer, no food’ logos on their cars. The idea is to associate the urban people with the cause,” he said, adding that initially they plan to give 600 flags for free. Singh added that flags in the markets are costly and a person has to specially find a shop to purchase a flag. “After all flags are ready, we would choose a particular spot on the road and handover flags to those who are interested,” he said. In Batala, Congress seeks to Civic elections: SAD alleges police ride the development wave inaction in Bhikhiwind violence Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Batala, February 4 The ruling Congress is seeking to ride the development wave in the MC poll through the works initiated by it in the city even as the two other mainline parties — the BJP and the SAD — find themselves sidelined due to different reasons. While the farmers’ protests have pegged the BJP on the back foot, the SAD is yet to set its house in order. All three parties have announced their candidates. The Congress has dropped some of its top guns, including former MC vicepresident Harinder Singh Kalsi. Naveen Nayyar, sister of former MLA Ashwani Sekhri, has been fielded from Kalsi’s ward, a development, which has created fissures within the party. Notwithstanding the politicking involved while dis- Farmers’ protest peg BJP on the back foot, SAD yet to set house in order tributing tickets, residents have surely taken a liking to the “unprecedented development initiatives the city is witnessing.” The last MC House was controlled by the BJP whose senior leader Naresh Mahajan remained the president. Cabinet Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa is the fulcrum around whom all developmental initiatives revolve. The new roads lined with interlocking tiles on both sides and other infrastructure, including construction of three bridges over Hansli drain, have come up after decades of agonising wait. Another factor that is sure to go in favour of the Congress is that the ruling dispensation in Chandigarh is being controlled by the same party. In 2017, barely months after the party was elected to power, the Congress had swept the corporation poll of Patiala, Amritsar and Jalandhar with a majority. So much so, the party won a staggering 59 out of 60 seats in Patiala. In 2018, the Congress again decimated its rivals by winning 62 out of the 95 wards in the Ludhiana corporation poll. “You sow what you reap. When the SAD-BJP combine was in power from 2007 to 2017, it swept aside all civic body elections. Now it is payback time. These things are normal in politics and nothing much should be read in them,” said a former MLA. Observers claim that with the party ticking all boxes on the development front and with a favourable dispensation at the top, it will be a tough road ahead for the SAD and BJP . Threatens dharna outside SSP office if cops failed to act Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 4 The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday announced that it would hold a dharna outside the SSP office if the police failed to take an action against Congress nagar panchayat candidates from Bhikhiwind, who had allegedly attacked the residence of SAD leader Amarjit Dhillon. At a press conference here, party leaders Bikram Singh Majithia and Virsa Singh Valtoha alleged that Congress candidates — Sitara Singh Dilari, Jagjit Singh Jagga and Yadwinder Singh attacked the residence of Dhillon where the SAD candidates had gathered prior to filing their nominations on February 2. They alleged that rifles were loaded by Congressmen Bikram Majithia and Virsa Singh Valtoha address mediapersons. while standing next to the SHO’s vehicle. “The police force remained a mute spectator to this murder of democracy,” they added. Valtoha said even after this violence, the police registered a case against 15 SAD activists. “We even resorted to a dharna and were assured by the police that justice would be done in the case. But instead of doing that, the police started raiding the houses of Akali leaders and workers,” said Valtoha. Majithia said it was the responsibility of Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to ensure that law and order was maintained during the municipal polls. “It is Missing youth found murdered, 3 held ASI dies as carbine Tribune News Service MORE FARMERS JOIN STIR AT DELHI PAGE 3 Amritsar, February 4 A youth was allegedly murdered by three of his friends in Talwandi Khumman village, falling under the Kathunangal police station here. The victim, identified as Sonu (30), was missing since January 26. Though the family members had informed the Kathunangal police regarding this just two days after he went missing, the police failed to take any prompt action. Rani, mother of the deceased, said Sonu had been missing since January 26. He had gone with the three youths — Jashan, Jagga and Ghulla — Sonu, the victim of the same village but did not return even as the three were staying with their relatives after Sonu disappeared mysteriously. She said the family tried to locate him, but in vain. She alleged that she made rounds of the police chowki as well as the Kathunangal police station, but no official took notice of her complaint. The police on Thursday recovered his body from the bushes near Gujjarpura canal, a subsidiary of Uppar Bari Doab Canal, following the interrogation of the suspects identified as Jashanpreet Singh, alias Jashan, and Jagatpreet Singh, alias Jagga of Talwandi Ghumman and Navdeep Singh, alias Ghulla of Rangeelpur village. In a statement released to c m y b the media, the police claimed to have solved the murder “within 24-hours” while claiming that Rani had lodged a complaint with the police on Thursday. The police claimed that after registering the case under Section 364 and 34 of the IPC, the police nabbed the suspects. During interrogation, they revealed that they had killed Sonu the same day with sharp weapons and later threw his body. The body was recovered and sent for the post-mortem examination. Assistant Superintendent of Police, Majitha, Abhimanyu Rana, said he was not aware of this and would look into this. goes off accidentally Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 4 An assistant sub-inspector Manjit Singh died in an ‘accidental’ fire from his carbine at a petrol pump located in Sultanwind Road here on Thursday. He was posted at the crime stopper wing of the city police. He was on night duty and had taken a shelter at the filling station during rain at 7 in the morning. Station House Officer of Division B police station Gurwinder Singh said ASI Manjit Singh was a resident of Dhadian village in Majitha. He said as per the preliminary investigations, his carbine went off accidentally killing him on the spot. He said further investigations in this regard were underway. Calling him an honest cop, the SHO said he was on his PCR bike and had stopped at the petrol pump when the rain started. The SHO said the CCTV footage of the petrol pump was also being scrutinised to ascertain the exact cause of death. clear that Khemkaran MLA Sukhpal Bhullar and the Tarn Taran police have become partners in breaking the peace of the area,” he stated. Majithia claimed that they had given proof of Congress candidates leading armed people to attack SAD candidates to the police but it was not taking any action in the matter. “If this this continues, we will be constrained to approach the high court against the SSP ,” Majithia added. Valtoha said the SAD had informed the Bhikhiwind Tehsildar about the Congress’ conspiracy to vitiate the atmosphere in the area. He said the Tehsildar gave time to the SAD candidates to file their nominations on February 2, but on the same day armed Congressmen positioned themselves outside this office to prevent this. Unidentified body found near station Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, February 4 The police party of the Government Railways Police (GRP) found the body of an unidentified person from an abandoned area near the Bhagtanwala railway station. ASI Jaswant Singh of the local police post said here on Thursday that the deceased was around 32 years old with no injury on the body. The body had been kept in the mortuary of the railway police station, Amritsar, for identification.