18022021-LT-01.qxd 2/18/2021 12:44 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana TRIBUNE MC PLANS TO SHIFT DAIRIES TO GORSIAN KADAR BAKSH Earlier, a panel under chairmanship of Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu was formed to take a decision on dairies. FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY Notorious drug peddler held with heroin Tribune News Service Ludhiana, February 17 The crime branch 2 wing of the city police claimed to have nabbed a notorious drug peddler and recovered 35 gm of heroin from his possession. The accused has been identified as Mani Verma, a resident of Sarup Nagar, Salem Tabri. ACP (Crime) Surinder Mohan conducted a press meet in this regard. The ACP said a tip-off was received, accordingly, the police party conducted a raid at Gurnam Nagar from where the accused was nabbed and heroin was recovered from him. One of his aides, Rajesh Kumar of Gurnam Nagar, managed to give the slip to the police. The ACP said Rajesh had a notorious past as he was already facing seven cases of various crimes registered at the Salem Tabri police station. He said the police remand of the accused would be sought from court and during further interrogation, the entire supply chain could be busted and more recovery of drugs could also be made. Body of man who killed wife, daughter found Ludhiana, February 17 The body of a man, who had killed his wife and a daughter at Sherpur Kalan, near here, was found in the canal at Doraha after five days. He allegedly committed suicide by jumping into the canal. Rupinder Kaur Sra, ADCP 4, in a statement issued said on February 12, a man, Pyara Singh, had brutally killed his wife and a daughter. After killing the duo, he had called his nephew and informed him that he had killed his wife and daughter and he was also going to commit suicide by jumping in the canal at Doraha. The police had recovered the scooter of Pyara on the same day. However, his body was recovered today. — TNS PAGE 2 TANVI THAKKER GETS HITCHED TO LONG-TIME BEAU ADITYA PAGE 3 SALMA HAYEK ON HER DESPERADO CO-STAR ANTONIO BANDERAS Tanvi, known for her roles in Yeh Ishq Haaye and Miley Jab Hum Tum, tied the knot with Aditya Kapadia on Feb 16. MAX 25°C | MIN 11°C | YESTERDAY MAX 26°C | MIN 12°C SUNSET THURSDAY 6:16 PM PAGE 4 Hollywood diva recalls how Banderas helped her when she started tearing up on the sets of the 1995 film. SUNRISE FRIDAY 7:04 AM THURSDAY | 18 FEBRUARY 2021 | LUDHIANA Clean sweep for Cong, Oppn decimated Ruling party wrests control of 6 MCs, wins 1 of 2 bypolls; AAP, BJP bite dust, SAD emerges main Oppn, rout for BSP CIVIC POLL RESULTS Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Ludhiana, February 17 The Congress on Wednesday swept the civic body polls by wresting control over all six Municipal Councils (MCs) that had gone to general elections on Sunday by winning 81 of the total 112 seats in Ludhiana district. While the ruling party lost the Sahnewal MC bypoll, which the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) won, it retained the lone seat in the Mullanpur Dakha MC bypoll, which was necessitated by the death of its then senior vice-president Balwinder Singh Sekhon. The main opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) faced a crushing defeat by winning only three of the total 114 MC seats in eight civic bodies. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the SAD, which for the first time had contested any election separately after they parted ways over the contentious farm laws, could win only two and 16 seats, respectively. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) even failed to open an account in any of the eight civic bodies. The main Opposition AAP , which has two of the total 14 MLAs in Ludhiana district, even failed to open an account in six of the total eight civic bodies that went to polls, barring two seats that it won in Khanna and one in Doraha. The performance of the saffron party also remained dismal with no seat to its kitty in seven MCs and it won only two seats in Khanna. It was a complete rout for the BSP which gave the , worst performance with no seat to its pool in any of the eight civic bodies. The SAD emerged the main Opposition party in all MCs Congress candidate Parvinder Kaur Kalyan from Ward No. 7 in Jagraon celebrates her victory; and (right) Cong's winning candidates with MLA Lakhvir Singh Lakha in Payal. ASHWANI DHIMAN RESULTS AT A GLANCE Khanna: Seats 33, Congress 19, SAD 6, Independents 4, AAP 2, BJP 2 Jagraon: Seats 23, Congress 17, Independents 5, SAD 1 Samrala: Seats 15, Cong 10, SAD 5 Raikot: Seats 15, Congress 15 Doraha: Seats 15, Congress 11, SAD 2, Independent 1, AAP 1 Payal: Seats 11, Congress 9, SAD 1, Independent 1 Sahnewal: Seat 1, SAD 1 Mullanpur Dakha: Seat 1, Cong 1 PARTY-WISE POSITION Winners pose for a photograph in Raikot; and (right) Jatinder Pal Rana and his brother Ravinder Pal Rana, both winning Cong candidates, during the celebrations in Jagraon. and managed to retain its hold in the Sahnewal bypoll, where the ruling Congress finished third while the AAP remained the runner-up. Of the total 114 seats for which elections were held, the Congress won 82, SAD 16, AAP three, BJP two, and Independents 11. It was for the first time in the history of the MCs that the Independents also failed to impress by winning only 11 seats that they had contested, with no count in four civic bodies. In all six civic bodies, the Congress won the absolute majority and won all 15 seats in Raikot, which was represented by AAP MLA Jagtar Singh Jagga Hissowal. The ruling party claimed a twothird majority in four MCs — Jagraon (17 of 23), Samrala (10 of 15), Doraha (11 of 15), and Payal (nine of 11 seats). Not only Raikot, the state’s main Opposition AAP also failed to open its account in Jagraon, which was also represented by its legislator Sarvjit Kaur Manuke, who is also the deputy leader of opposition in the state Assembly. The SAD, which represents Mullanpur Dakha and Sahnewal in the Vidhan Sabha, was able to win the MC bypoll in Sahnewal, represented by its leader in the Assembly Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, but lost Mullanpur Dakha, from where Manpreet Singh Ayali BJP blames Mayor, officials for ‘poor’ management of waste had won the Vidhan Sabha bypoll in 2019 after the resignation of AAP’s Harvinder Singh Phoolka. The Lok Insaaf Party (LIP), which represents Atam Nagar (Simarjit Singh Bains) and Ludhiana South (Balvinder Singh Bains), had not fielded its candidates on the party symbol. While the Congress contested all 114 seats on the party symbol, the AAP fielded 109 candidates, SAD 86, BJP 45, and BSP 13. As many as 123 nominees opted to contest as Independents. It took hardly 20 minutes to break the first result news from Mullanpur Dakha, where the ruling party’s Jabbar Jang Singh Sekhon retained his late father’s seat by defeating the SAD’s Sushil Kumar by a margin of 446 votes in the MC bypoll. The counting of votes began at eight centres across the district at 9 am. The last was the result news from Khanna and Jagraon MCs at 2 pm. However, the official declaration of results was made by the district election office at 3 pm. Supporters go berserk, dance on dhol beats As dholis and band parties were already stationed outside counting centres, the victorious candidates emerged out in the shape of massive processions with their supporters lifting them up in the Total seats Congress SAD AAP BJP Independents air and garlanding them immensely. On the beats of dhols and tunes of brass bands, the victorious candidates and their supporters turned berserk with dancing all the way to their respective constituencies. Most of the winner candidates were carried in open jeeps with folded hands and plastic smiles. With restlessness clearly visible from their faces, the winners did not miss the chance to thank their voters and supporters all through the evening. To cash the win, Congress leaders, who worked overtime for the ruling party nominees, led the victory processions that culminated in a media briefing at party offices this evening. 114 82 16 3 2 11 Later, SAD, AAP BJP and , BSP leaders had discussions with their respective party activists to analyse what went wrong. DC thanks voters, staff Deputy Commissioner Varinder Kumar Sharma has thanked voters, polling and security staffers, candidates and the political parties for doing their job and cooperation in ensuring free, fair and peaceful elections and counting for the MC polls. Elderly man succumbs to virus, 51 fresh cases in dist Tribune News Service 25 proclaimed offenders held in special branch drive 15 more students of Chaunta govt school test positive Ludhiana, February 17 Ludhiana, February 17 A delegation of BJP leaders Sunita Sharma and Inder Aggarwal visited the main garbage dump and secondary collections points in the city. They blamed Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu for “poor” waste management in the city. Aggarwal said: “A big problem related to solid waste management has occurred in the city due to ignorance of the Mayor and the officials concerned. No processing of waste is being done at the main garbage dump. Garbage lifting is also not done timely in the city. The waste is getting collected at secondary collection points.” Aggarwal, who is the president of the local body cell of the Ludhiana BJP, said: “A probe should be held on how much waste was processed when the A2Z firm was handling the task. If any violation is The special branch wing of the Ludhiana Commissionerate has launched a drive to nab the proclaimed offenders (POs) wanted in various cases. The main target of the branch is to nab POs mainly wanted in drug smuggling cases and heinous crimes. Police Commissioner Rakesh Aggrawal had recently asked police stations and other branches to intensify the drive to nab absconders particularly those wanted in drug smuggling cases. The special branch in-charge, Inspector Beant Juneja, nabbed more than 25 absconders, mostly wanted in drug smuggling and heinous crimes. Today, the special branch nabbed PO wanted in two cases. Identified as Arun Kumar, alias Soni, of Dehlon village,. he was absconding in two cases registered against him under Section 379 (theft) at the Shimlapuri and Division No. 2 police stations. He was already facing three more cases, including drug smuggling and theft, and was out on bail, Juneja said. — TNS BJP leaders at the main garbage dumping site near Tajpur Road in Ludhiana. TRIBUNE PHOTO found, action should be taken. It seems heaps of garbage contain 15-20 lakh MT of waste. Why Indore model of solid waste management is not being adopted here?” Aggarwal said they will soon hold protests if the situation was not improved. NGO protests at main garbage dump Members of Yuva, an NGO, held a protest at the MC’s main garbage dump (landfill site) near Tajpur Road on Wednesday. Kumar Gaurav of the NGO rang a bell at the site as no attention is being paid to resolve the issue of legacy waste (old waste) there. He said: “Heaps of garbage look like mountains as no steps have been taken to resolve the issue. The MC should pay attention to improve solid waste management and ensure functioning of the waste processing plant at the earliest.” c m y b Tribune News Service Ludhiana, February 17 A 74-year-old man from Mullanpur Dakha has lost his life to Covid-19 while 51 fresh cases of the virus have been reported from Ludhiana district. Meanwhile, 15 more students of Government Senior Secondary School, Chaunta, have tested positive for the virus. Earlier, 15 other students and two staff members, including a teacher, had tested positive. Of the 51 fresh cases tested positive, nine persons came in contact with positive patients, 27 visited the OPD, two with influenza like illness visited the flu corner. Besides, 13 other persons have also tested positive. At present, there are 376 active patients in the district. A total of 6,39,132 samples have been taken, of which reports of 6,37,663 have been received. Of these, 6,07,132 samples were found nega- COVID-19 CONTROL ROOM ■ For Home Isolation: 78147-64759 ■ For Ambulance Problem: 78143-63850 ■ For Hospital Problem: COVID-19 FIGURES SAMPLES POSITIVE ACTIVE DEATHS 6,39,132 26,463 376 31 1,015 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-19bed-status-in-ludhiana-district tive while reports of 1,469 were pending. He said now, the total number of patients related to Ludhiana was 26,463 while 4,068 patients belong to other districts or states. So far, 1,015 persons from Ludhiana and 491 from other districts have died of the virus.