08022021-ATR-01.qxd 2/7/2021 10:46 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar TRIBUNE MC SHOULD IDENTIFY NEEDS OF COMMUNITY & ACT ACCORDINGLY PAGE 2 Referring to the rudderless initiatives taken by authorities in the past, residents urge officials to review decisions. FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY MUKUL DEV LOOKS BACK ON A LONG AND EVENTFUL CAREER MAX 23°C | MIN 7°C | YESTERDAY MAX 22°C | MIN 7°C SUNSET MONDAY 6:11 PM We took requisite permission from authorities: Pvt firm official Tribune News Service City to get hi-tech water testing lab Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 7 The government has spent estimated amount of ~584.86 lakh on establishing hi-tech laboratory in the holy city. Jaswinder Singh Chahl, senior engineer of water supply, said in this sum building costs ~232.86 lakh and equipment costs ~352.00 lakh. He said there are only three state-level laboratories in Punjab i.e. hitech multi-district laboratory Amritsar, trade water effluent and amp, research unit Patiala and regional advance water testing laboratory SAS Nagar. He said that hi-tech multidistrict water testing laboratory directly impacts Amritsar and neighbour districts in northern region of Punjab. While describing the highlights of this laboratory Chahl said it is fully capable to conduct the testing of heavy metals in water like arsenic, aluminum, lead and cadmium. He said that it can also conduct tests regarding bacteriological parameters like presence of coliform in potable water. “Also, it is capable of conducting waste water parameters like Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Dissolved Oxygen (DO),” he added. Beside this, it can also cater the basic chemical parameters and cations and anions of potable water. Laboratory has a capacity to conduct 1,200 samples per month. Talking about the impact on public drinking water system, Singh said primarily it caters to the need of water testing of various water supply schemes of DWSS, regularly conducts water testing of various government departments such as Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Punjab Mandi Board and the MC. He said all schools, colleges, universities, hospital or households can utilise the facility. MAHIE GILL AND ABHAY DEOL REUNITE AS ON-SCREEN COUPLE Actor Mukul Dev has had a journey of close to 25 years in the industry and his range of works is very wide. Row erupts as century-old trees axed at Urban Haat Amritsar, February 7 A controversy erupted after nearly century-old trees were chopped in the Urban Haat area here a few days ago. The incident drew the ire of several environment and heritage lovers. Earlier, too, an age-old Peepal tree was axed by negligent authorities. At that time as well, much hue and cry was raised, but it proved to be futile as authorities turned a blind eye to this. Environmentalist Deepak Babbar said it pained him to see the green heritage of the city being plundered by people for their vested interests while authorities preferred to look the other way rather than taking action. Urban Haat came on the 125-year-old British Colonial era building of Victoria Jubliee Hospital established in 1891. The SAD-BJP government had restored and revamped the building in consultation with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage in 2015 after spending huge amounts with PAGE 3 Trunks of chopped trees lie on the premises of Urban Haat in Amritsar. Urban Haat came on the 125-year-old British Colonial era building of Victoria Jubliee Hospital established in 1891 an aim to boost the tourism in Amritsar. The building, which was lying abandoned, is located on the prime location near the Historical Company Bagh, around 1.5 km from Golden Temple. Initially, the government had decided to develop the replica of the famous Lahore Food Street to boost the city’s tourism. Now, the project has been given to a private firm which is now reportedly converting the building into a hotel. The Amritsar Development Authority had sublet it to a Bathinda-based firm Food Library in November 2018. Amarjit Singh, marketing head of the firm, said a thorough process was followed and an auction was conducted by the PUDA in this connection. “We have followed the due process and took the requisite permission from the authorities in this regard. We are developing the structure in a phased manner. The trees would have blocked the entrance of several shops being constructed as a part of the project,” he added. PAGE 4 Actress Mahie Gill and Abhay Deol will be a part of the upcoming war-epic 1962: The War In The Hills. SUNRISE TUESDAY 7:17 AM MONDAY | 8 FEBRUARY 2021 | AMRITSAR Civic elections: Cops keep tab on habitual offenders 15 booked in Jandiala, Beas, Ajnala, Ramdass & Majitha Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 7 With civic body polls scheduled for February 14, habitual offenders have come under the radar of the Amritsar (rural) police. The police have booked Ashok Kumar, a resident of Jandiala, as he failed to deposit his licensed weapon at police station or at a gun house. He was booked under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code. Since imposition of the model code of conduct, Amritsar Deputy Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Khaira, ordered residents to deposit their weapons. However, many residents failed to abide by the orders, thus the Deputy Commissioner ordered registration of FIRs against them. The police have also initiated action under Section 110 of the CrPC against habitual offenders in Jandiala, Beas, Ajnala, Ramdass and Majitha. The booked have been identified as Deepak Singh, Kulwinder Singh, Robin, Manpreet Singh, Jobanjit Singh, Gurpal Singh, Sarvan Singh, Jaspinder Singh, Hardev Singh, Pinder Singh, Man- INBRIEF 3 BOOKED FOR SAND MINING Amritsar: The police have booked three persons for indulging in sand mining in three separate incidents. Cops confiscated around 800-cubic feet of sand along with a tractor-trailer. The seizure was made at Beas bus stop and Sodia village. Those booked have been identified as Satnam Singh of Kaakar village and Lakhwinder Singh of Bhindi Saida, besides an unknown person. Three separate cases under Section 379 of the IPC and Section 21 of the Mining Act were registered against the accused. TNS 1 DEATH, 19 NEW CASES IN DISTRICT Senior police officials supervise security arrangements for the upcoming nagar panchayat polls in Amritsar on Sunday. Since imposition of the model code of conduct, Amritsar Deputy Commissioner Gurpreet Khaira ordered residents to deposit their weapons. However, many residents failed to abide by the orders preet Singh, Dharminder Singh, Jodh Singh, Deputy Singh and Avtar Singh. Senior police officials visited the polling booths and supervised the security arrangements in the district. Police officials said they were keeping a tab on antisocial elements to ensure that they do not create trouble during the polls. Amritsar: The district reported one more death due to Covid19, taking the toll to 585 on Sunday. The deceased has been identified as 57-year-old Mahaveer Prasad, a resident of Partap Nagar. The district health authorities also reported 19 new cases with which the total count of infections increased to 15,138. The new cases include 12 influenza-like illness (ILI) cases and seven contacts of positive patients. Meanwhile, with the recovery of nine patients, the recovery count has increased to 14,401. At present, the district has 152 active cases. TNS Despite farmers’ protests, SAD to officials: Admn favouring BJP nominee stays upbeat CIVIC POLL ARRANGEMENT REVIEW MEETING Congress in Bhikhiwind violence MC BYPOLL Tribune News Service Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, February 7 The district administration on Sunday had to face an embarrassing situation during the joint meeting of officials of the district administration and representatives of different political parties when SAD leader Virsa Singh Valtoha condemned the alleged partial attitude of the district administration towards the Congress regarding the February 2 violent incidents in Bhikhiwind. The meeting was presided over by Vinay Biblani, state election observer for elections to the municipal council, Patti, and the nagar panchayat, Bhikhiwind. He reviewed the arrangements for the elections to Patti and Bhikhiwind local governments. The SAD leader alleged that the administration was partial towards the ruling party in the Bhikhiwind case. Workers of political parties along with their State election observer Vinay Biblani presides over a meeting in Tarn Taran on Sunday. GURBAXPURI respective candidates had gone to file their nomination papers when violent incidents occurred at the site. In these violent incidents, cross firing between SAD and Congress workers also occurred. Over 200 SAD workers had been booked by the Bhikhiwind police. The SAD leader alleged that the police were raiding the houses of SAD workers to demoralise them. On the instructions of the State Election Observer, SAD leader Virsa Singh Valtoha lodged a complaint (in writing) with Deputy Commissioner-cumDistrict Election Officer Kul- want Singh requesting action. Deputy Commissioner-cumDistrict Election Officer Kulwant Singh and SSP Dhruman H Nimbale were among other officials present in the meeting. Representatives of the Congress, SAD, BJP AAP , , CPI, CPM, NCP etc, were also , present in the meeting. Candidates from five of the total 19 wards of the municipal council, Patti, have already been elected unopposed. These were said to be the members of the ruling Congress party while for the remaining 14 wards, there were a total of 54 candidates in the fray — 19 of the Congress, 13 of SAD, three of the BJP 14 , AAP three of the BSP and two , Independent candidates. The total number electoral (voters) were 30,863 in Patti. For elections to nagar panchayat, Bhikhiwind, there were a total of 9,011 voters and the number of wards was 13 and all wards were going to the polls. Fortysix candidates were in the fray with 13 each of the Congress, SAD and AAP and six of the BSP and one Independent. The administration assured them of fair and fearless elections and sought people’s cooperation. Amritsar, February 7 Despite Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) facing severe criticism due to the ongoing farmers’ stir over three agri laws and saffron outfit activists reportedly hesitating to contest the civic body elections on the party symbol, Manohar Singh, a BJP candidate from Ward No. 37, launched his door-to-door campaign on Sunday. He said he didn’t face any opposition during public meetings in the ward. Manohar claimed that he was expecting some resistance as people were annoyed with the party, but he found out that the Opposition was spreading false propaganda against the BJP in the entire state. “I have initiated door-todoor campaign from today. I got good response from residents of the Ward No. 37. Everyone promised to cast their vote in my favour. A false propaganda is being spread against the BJP There . No state-level function on Attariwala’s martyrdom day Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 7 Members of the General Sardar Sham Singh Attariwala Trust and residents of the area are perturbed as the yearly state-level function to pay tributes to the Sikh general and martyr would not be organised at India Gate this year. The function was held near the statue of Sham Singh Attariwala near the war memorial. A separate function is also organised at Sham Singh’s memorial in Attari. In a press conference here on Sunday, Harpreet Singh Sidhu, general secretary of the trust, said, “The state-level function was being held every year for the last 12 years. Every year, we had to approach senior officials to ask them to organise a function in memory of Sardar Sham Singh,” he said, adding that this year, the officials concerned stated that no such function would be organised. A martyr of the Anglo-Sikh war, Attariwala had participated in many campaigns, including the Battles of Multan, Kashmir and the Frontier Province. Owing to his courage and influence over the Khalsa army, Sham Singh was nominated to the Council of Regency set up by MahaHarpreet Singh, general secretary of the General Sardar Sham Singh Attariwala Trust, in Amritsar on Sunday. SUNIL KUMAR c m y b rani Jind Kaur for the minor sovereign Maharaja Duleep Singh. During the first Anglo-Sikh war, he crossed the Sutlej, vowing to lay down his life rather than return in defeat. Following his death in the battle, Attariwala was cremated at his Attari village. Sidhu said:“The government should make such an arrangement as the function is organised every year. “We want the government to pass a notification in the regard,” he said, adding that the trust would be organising an event at the Attari memorial. He added that the government should also make appropriate arrangements for the upkeep of the martyr’s memorial at Attari. BJP candidate Manohar Singh during door-to-door campaigning at Ward No. 37 in Amritsar on Sunday. TRIBUNE PHOTO Several activists of the BJP have refrained from contesting civic polls on the party symbol and instead are in the fray as Independents might be some sections of society, but in general there is no such issue,” said Manohar, who had been associated with the BJP for the last 18 years. “I have a long association with the BJP but I am contest, ing election for the first time. It is an opportunity to serve society. I am in the fray for development of the ward,” he said. The MC ward number 37 has been reserved for the Backward Class and in 2017 Congress’s Harpreet Singh Goldi defeated SAD-BJP candidate Inderjit Singh Pandori. After the alliance between SAD and BJP came to an end over the agri laws, the saffron outfit will be contesting civic polls separately. Gangster Nahar brought on production warrant Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 7 The Sadar police have arrested Nitin Nahar, a gangster associated with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, after bringing him on production warrant. He was arrested in connection with a firing incident in which a liquor contractor Ricky Bhalla was attacked for ransom on June 11, 2020. The police had arrested Harsimran Singh, alias Simmu of Kishangarh Colony and Rik- shit Sahni of Hansli Wali Gali at that time. Bhalla had alleged that the duo called him from different numbers and demanded money while threatening him. Police probe revealed that Nitin Nahar, alias Sonu, of the Indira Colony in Gate Hakima had provided weapons to Harsimran and Rikshit. Nahar was nabbed by the Amritsar rural police in a joint operation with organised crime control unit from the Attari area on June 19 last year.