27022021-ATR-01.qxd 2/26/2021 11:05 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar TRIBUNE IIM STUDENT GETS YOUTH ICON AWARD FOR PONDURU KHADI Jashvanth is among the recipients of the National Youth Icon Award for 2020 given by a UN-accredited body. FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY INBRIEF MAYOR INSPECTS HORTICULTURE DEPT Amritsar: Mayor Karamjit Singh Rintu on Friday conducted a surprise checking in office of Horticulture Department of the Municipal Corporation here. During this, the Mayor instructed the officials and staff present on the spot to keep the gardens of the city green and clean. He asked to take care of historic Ram Bagh, Sakatri Bagh, Chali Khoo and Gol Bagh gardens. The Mayor said that the residents and tourists should not face any difficulty during their visit in these gardens. He stated that absence or irresponsible attitude of employees would not be tolerated. Strict action would be taken against such employees. Mayor also constituted a 10-member committee to look after cleanliness of the gardens. TNS MAN KILLED OVER MINOR DISPUTE Tarn Taran: Manpreet Singh (27), a resident of Pakhoke village, was killed by Mandeep Singh, a resident of Rakh Shekh Fatta village, over a minor dispute on Friday. Complainant Satbir Singh, cousin of the deceased, told the police that Manpreet and Mandeep entered into a verbal spat and suddenly the latter attacked the former with a sharp-edged weapon. Satbir was taking Manpreet to a nearby hospital when the latter breathed his last. Inspector Prabhjit Singh said the accused had been booked under Section 302 of the IPC and was on the run. OC PAGE 2 LADY GAGA OFFERS $500,000 REWARD FOR HER STOLEN DOGS BODY FOUND FROM PAKHOKE VILLAGE Tarn Taran: Sadar police found the body of an unidentified man from Pakhoke village on Friday. ASI Harwindrpal Singh, Investigating Officer, said the body bore no injury marks and had been kept at the Civil Hospital's mortuary for identification. OC NARAYANI SHASTRI BELIEVES IN SPONTANEITY AS AN ACTOR Lady Gaga is offering big reward for the return of her French bulldogs Koji and Gustav that were stolen in Hollywood. MAX 27°C | MIN 15°C | YESTERDAY MAX 27°C | MIN 13°C SUNSET SATURDAY 6:27 PM PAGE 4 Narayani Shastri will soon be seen on small screen with Star Plus’ upcoming show Aapki Nazron Ne Samjha. SUNRISE SUNDAY 6:59 AM SATURDAY | 27 FEBRUARY 2021 | AMRITSAR Grills worth ~30 lakh missing Time to play the game Competitions slated, practice sessions on BRTS route: Social activist at full throttle...players are on the go A total of 2,900 frames have been stolen in last four years Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 26 The Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), a dream project of former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, has been facing serious challenges since its inauguration on December 16, 2016. Iron grills (weighing around 5 tonnes) installed alongside the BRTS route had been stolen, claimed Suresh Sharma, a social activist. He alleged the project worth ~600 crore had been ignored by the Congress government. “Around 800 grill frames are missing from Chheharta to India Gate. A total of 2,900 frames are missing on the entire BRTS route. One frame weighs around 18 kg, thus grills weighing 5,000 kg are missing. Due to the negligence of the government, iron grills worth Rs 30 lakh have been stolen in the last four years,” said Sharma. He urged the Municipal Corporation and the Punjab Metro Bus Society to take Tribune News Service INFRA BOTTLENECK: Missing iron grills from the BRTS corridor in Amritsar. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR stern action in this regard. In February 2018, the Municipal Corporation Commissioner had written to Public Works Department (PWD) to take action against those who are removing the grills of the BRTS corridor. Earlier, the Deputy Commissioner had also issued instructions to register police cases against people responsible for breaking the grills. However, no case has been registered till date. The grills can be seen missing from several locations. A few months ago, the Punjab Infrastructure Develop- ment Board handed over the BRTS to the Municipal Corporation. Mayor Karmajit Singh Rintu stated that they would streamline the bus metro soon. The social activist also demanded to install display boards, which were non-operational. MLA Sarkaria among 48 test +ve; 1 death in dist Tribune News Service Trucks are seen parked along the highway near Amritsar on Friday. CAIT strike call gets lukewarm response Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 26 The strike call given by the Confederation of All-India Traders (CAIT), supported by the All-India Motor Transport Congress, drew poor response from local traders. The call was given to protest against the Centre for arbitrary regulations and changes in introducing e-way bills, complex GST system, violations by e-commerce giants and hike in fuel prices. Almost all markets stayed open throughout the day. Even wholesale hubs, including Katra Sher Singh (medicine), Shastri market (textile), Majith Mandi and adjoining areas remained operational. Anantdeep Singh, spokesperson, All India Motor Transport Congress, said, “As, no local trader organisation complied with the strike, no transporter stopped its operations.” He said it was a failure on the part of leaders to educate traders about the importance of strike to convey their continued on page 2 Amritsar, February 26 Rehabilitation and Disaster Management Minister Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria among 48 persons tested positive for Covid-19, pushing the tally to 15,648 in the district on Friday. Sarkaria, MLA from the Rajasansi Assembly constituency in which falls Sri Guru Ramdas Jee International Airport, is said to have isolated himself at his residence in Chandigarh. Nearly a week ago, Con- gress MLA from Amritsar Sunil Dutti along with 20 members of his family had tested positive for the contagion. Dutti had organised his daughter’s marriage function in Delhi on February 15 and 16. The family members who tested positive included his sister-in-law Mamta Dutta, who is an MC councillor. A resident of the Batala Road, Jeevan Mahajan, 63, succumbed to the virus. As many as 17 patients recovered. Now, the number of active cases stands at 417 in the district. ❝Barring school-going AGENDA 2021 Neeraj Bagga 1 HELD FOR ILLEGAL SAND MINING Tarn Taran: Harike police on Thursday arrested Amarjit Singh, a resident of Booh Havelian, with a tractor trolley filled with illegal sand near his village. Rohit Prabhakar, SDO (Mining), said the accused extracted sand from the Beas riverbed by violating mining norms. A case under Section 379 of the IPC and Section 21(1) of the Mining Act has been registered against the accused. OC PAGE 3 AMRITSAR FEBRUARY 26 To make up for the loss of practice and competitive sporting events during the pandemichit last year, players from all sports disciplines have started preparing themselves for the upcoming events. The entire sports calendar had been wiped off last year. The next sports calendar for 2021-22 is set to begin on April 1 wherein all competitive sporting events like inter-district, inter-college, inter-university and pan-India will take place. The educational institutions are anticipating a big rise in sports quota admissions this year as many did not enroll themselves in games last year. The next important competition lined up is Inter-District Athletics Championships at Punjabi University, Patiala, from February 28 to March 1. On the basis of performance in this event, state teams will be selected to take part in the national tournaments. However, the Federation Cup is the most important of all as it will decide the fate of players who will represent the country in the Olympics. Tokyo is to host the Games on July 23. Rankirat Singh Sandhu, athletics coach at the Khalsa Educational Institutes, says, “Barring school-going players, whose final examinations Since we ❝not have do players, whose final examinations are scheduled for March, rest have hit the ground running. an indoor facility in the entire district, we had lost touch with the game when the winter had set in October of 2019 Rankirat Singh Sandhu, ATHLETICS COACH Vinod Sangwan, SWIMMING COACH ❞ are scheduled for March, rest have hit the ground running.” Two sessions of three-hour training in the morning and in evening are carried out. He has got 100 players from different disciplines like athletes, javelin throwers, shot putters, discus throwers, including Harnoor Singh Sandhu, who clinched silver in the discus throw event at the Junior Nationals held in Guwahati earlier this month, and so on under his wings. While many games have resumed, swimming is the odd one out as it is still reeling. Vinod Sangwan, a swimming coach, observes, “Since we do not have an indoor swimming pool in the entire district we had lost touch with the game when the winter had set in October of 2019.” And then the pandemic struck down training of his 26 swimming players, including eight girls, in the district. Of these, 12 have participated in national competitions. With the day temperature rising, he says, summer seems to be arriving earlier than expected. He hopes to re-open the swimming pool for training from ❞ next month. Feel of the field From training through videoconferencing and online sessions to resume training on the ground under watchful gaze of coaches has come as big relief for sportspersons. Some of the players had to arrange equipment at home for maintaining fitness levels and even resort to drills on rooftop. All along those locked-in months, technical training had become a thing of the past – but not anymore. Prabhjit, an athlete, says, “In track and field games players heavily depend upon nutritious diet to improve their performance in the competitions. They had a hard time getting their hands on neither rich nutritious diet as they could neither stock nor buy due to the closure of shops and markets. Now, all kinds of eatables are easily available in the market.” Players have been thronging the sports facilities available in the city like the Gandhi Ground, Guru Nanak stadium, wrestling arenas, gymnasiums in Gol Bagh, badminton halls and Maharaja Ranjit Singh HELPLINE NUMBERS FOR COVID PATIENTS ■ City Control Room Numbers: COVID UPDATE NEW CASES: 48 TOTAL CASES: 15,648 NEW DEATHS: 1 TOTAL DEATHS: 593 NEW RECOVERY: 17 TOTAL RECOVERY 14,638 ACTIVE 417 0183-2500398, 2500498, 2500598 ■ Health Department helpline: 0183-2535322, 0183-2535323 ■ Medical helpline: 104 ■ Contact a doctor: 1800 180 4104 ■ Bed availability and status: Punjab Covid App (updated daily at 5 pm) Students during a practice session at Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar on Friday. SUNIL KUMAR National Theatre Fest kicks off with live performances Former deputy Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 26 Returning back to stage and live performances, the artistes performing on the inaugural day of the three-day National Theatre Festival by Dastak theatre, gasped for relief on Friday. As most commercial art forms shifted to virtual mode in the new normal, folk art forms, especially folk theatre suffered untimely demise, chiefly due to the fact that already marginalised folk artistes were further pressed into looking for alternative livelihood. Just like Dharampal, 50, a bhand from Khandwala, had to resort to doing odd jobs to put food on table. “It’s a difficult time for folk artistes communities, includ- Folk theatre suffered untimely demise and artistes were forced to look for alternative livelihoods. ing our marasi community as we have been out of work for last year. No weddings, no social events and no stage per- formances to earn from, we were left to fend for ourselves. c m y b Performing after such a long time in front of audience today felt good,” he said. His group performed at Virsa Vihar to kickstart the theatre festival that also saw a moving performance of play ‘Manto Ke Rang’. Directed by Rajender Singh, organiser of the festival, the play was presented by Dastak theatre group. Based on the life of Sadat Hasan Manto, who was accused for number of outspoken writings, the dramatic composition put Manto’s perspective through plays ‘Dooda Pehalwan’, ‘Shaheed-Saaj’, ‘License’, ‘Paanch Din’. The morning session hosted theatre workshop and seminar by eminent theatre personalities Gursharan Singh Channi, his son and theatre actor Gyan Dev and Harleen Kohli. The Chandigarh-based actor Channi is the recipient of Sangeet Natak Akademi award for his community theatre and has been working in films and TV as well. He talked about his community theatre initiative CEVA, engaging the common people through street theatre. Interacting with theatre students, Channi said theatre education has multiple aspects and needs to be seen as an organised, professional industry in order to encourage career for young aspiring theatre actors. Harleen Kohli, his wife and theatre actor herself, agreed that the social stigma attached to theatre being an alternate career needs to be overcome. mayor joins AAP Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 26 Amid controversy over associating the name of SS Kohli (a retired commander) and half brother of former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday claimed that prominent local leaders joined the outfit. Former deputy mayor Om Prakash Gabbar along with his associates joined the AAP during a district-level meeting convened by MLAs Kulwant Singh Pandori, Jai Kishan Singh Rodi and Manjit Singh Bilaspur. Gabbar, a well-known face among the Valmiki community, first become a councillor from Amritsar on a SAD ticket. In 2017, he shifted to the Congress and contested the local body polls. He was also a chairman of the Bhagwan Valmiki Dhuna Sahib Management Trust, which manages Ram Tirth Mandir in Amritsar. Meanwhile, others who joined the AAP include Sahib Singh, district chief, Labour Cell (Congress); JS Bindra; Tarsem Singh Ranike; Manjit Singh Wadali; Boota Singh Sangatpura; Nishan Singh Grinding; Mazar Singh; Mani; Raj Kumar, Kanhaiya and Dharam Pal.