27042022-JTR-01.qxd 4/26/2022 11:43 PM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar TRIBUNE KAPURTHALA LOCAL BODIES RECEIVE NATIONAL AWARDS The K’thala panchayat samiti has been honoured with the ‘Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Sashaktikaran Award’. FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY INBRIEF FIRE BREAKS OUT AT BANK PREMISES Hoshiarpur: The Bank of Baroda branch near Mahilpur bus stand got engulfed in a major fire on Tuesday morning. While the entire furniture, counters and the set up of the bank got completely burnt, the cash which was kept in the locker remained safe. The cause of the fire was said to be short circuit, though Mahilpur police team also reached the spot to check for any sabotage attempt. Bank manager Nirdosh Kumar said he got a call this morning that smoke was billowing out from the shutter. “I and the bank staff rushed to the branch and found the entire premises engulfed in flames. Fire brigade teams were rushed in but the damage had already been done. Thankfully, the cash kept in the branch remained safe,” he said. OC MAKE N’SHAHR PLASTIC FREE: DC Nawanshahr: Deputy Commissioner Navjot Pal Singh Randhawa on Tuesday exhorted the people to shun the use of plastic carry bags and support the administration in making Nawanshahr a plasticfree city. While distributing 130 hygiene kits among safai karamcharis, Randhawa said use of plastic bags damages the environment and appealed to the people to switch over to alternative products such as jute bags. He said these environment-friendly bags can be instrumental in eliminating the environmental problem being caused by plastic bags. The DC expressed hope that the active support and cooperation of the people, Nawanshahr would be frontrunner city as a clean, green, pollution and plastic-free district. TNS 100 HYGIENE KITS DISTRIBUTED Nawanshahr: DC Navjot Pal Singh Randhawa and SSP Sandeep Sharma distributed 100 hygiene kits among safai sewaks and sewermen of Banga Municipal Council in Khatkar Kalan, the native village of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Randhawa said the administration would leave no stone unturned for well-being of poorest of the poor and it would safeguard their interests at every cost. He said these kits comprise hand washing soaps, liquid handwash, pair of gloves, masks and other items. Randhawa and the SSP also paid rich tributes to Bhagat Singh and his father Kishan Singh at Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Museum and Memorial. TNS TWO ARRESTED WITH INTOXICANTS Hoshiarpur: Garhshankar police have arrested two persons and seized 14 injections and 510 intoxicating tablets from their possession. ASI Baljinder Singh said two persons were spotted near Kot Fatuhi canal and both tried to flee after spotting the police teams. Upon checking, the intoxicants were recovered from their possession. The duo has been identified as Pardeep Kumar alias Manga and Ramandeep Singh alias Roma hailing from Nagdipur village in Mahilpur. OC PAGE 2 TWINKLE’S STORY SALAAM NONI APPA TO BE MADE INTO A FILM PAGE 3 A story from Twinkle Khanna’s bestselling book The Legend of Lakshmi Prasad will soon be made into a movie. MAX 41°C | MIN 23°C | YESTERDAY MAX 39°C | MIN 22°C SUNSET WEDNESDAY 7:04 PM KIKU SHARDA IS HAPPY TO TEAM UP WITH BHUVANESHWAR KUMAR Kiku has taken his love for cricket a step ahead by signing up for PlayerzPot’s IPL Cricket ka Bhoot campaign. SUNRISE THURSDAY 5:45 AM Raid at dist Youth Cong chief’s house Fastway has accused Angad Dutta of stealing its modems, STB swapping Avneet Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, April 26 High drama was witnessed at Defence Colony on Monday late evening after a police team, on a complaint of Fastway company, conducted a raid at the residence of district Youth Congress president Angad Dutta and registered an FIR against him over allegations of hardware theft and illegal swapping of set top boxes (STBs). When the police team reached outside the residence of Dutta along with the technical team of Fastway Company, Congress leaders, including district president Balraj Thakur, former MLA Rajinder Beri, and his lawyer, gathered at the spot and raised objections over the police functioning. The Congress leaders reportedly asked the police to show a search warrant before entering the house, however, the police without paying any heed to the objections, entered the house by propping a ladder up against the main gate. The police searched his house for nearly 30 minutes and sealed one room. Talking to The Tribune, The police outside the residence of district Youth Congress chief Angad Dutta in Jalandhar. Joybir Singh Kataria, the complainant and authorised representative of Fastway, said Dutta, who was working as local cable operator for their company, has stolen its modems and was involved in illegally swapping its STBs with the STBs of another competing company. He claimed that the Youth Congress chief was selling broadband services of other companies but was using hardware, STB and wiring of the complainant firm. He said they have visited the Wife of Ravi Gill puts off bhogplan houses of the subscribers, taken their written consent and have video footage to prove their claims. He further alleged that the youth leader was using his political influence in escaping the law. He also said the company has suffered huge financial loss due to the alleged fraud committed by Dutta. “He has illegally taken 980 modems from the houses of subscribers (the cost of one modem is nearly Rs 3,500). Besides, 2,300 fiber to the home (FTTH) ports have also PAGE 4 been taken off by Dutta and the cost of one FTTH is about Rs 1,000,” he added. Meanwhile, refuting the claims of the Fastway, Dutta said the company was implicating him in a false case in order to build pressure among cable operators who choose to work with other companies and prefer selling other broadband services over Fastway’s Netplus. He said the allegations against him were baseless as he had all the bills and required documents of the equipment he purchased and installed at the houses of the subscribers. “The hardware used for the broadband connection is provided by the company, I have no role in it. As far as the accusation of stealing modems is concerned, Fastway has its recovery team for the same. If a subscriber cancels the subscription, the team collects the same in a day or two. How can I steal that?” he added. Dutta further alleged that the police raid at his residence was against the law. He said his legal team was working on the case and he would soon disclose the complete matter in public. Navi Baradari,police station in-charge Manohar Lal said a case has been registered against Dutta under Sections 406 and 379 of the IPC. He said before the police reached the spot, the accused managed to escape. He further said they had information that the modems and wires of the complainant company were stored at his residence. Therefore they conducted a raid there. “The investigation is underway, we are checking the system of the accused found in his room,” he added. WEDNESDAY | 27 APRIL 2022 | JALANDHAR The curious case of missing files at JIT Tribune News Service Jalandhar, April 26 There seems to be something else in the case of 120 missing files of Jalandhar Improvement Trust — internal feud or politics, corruption tactics or reluctance to do work. But things seem to be getting sorted out after JIT Executive Officer Parminder Singh Gill and Chairman JITcum-Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori have written to the Commissioner of Police regarding lodging of an FIR against ex-Chairman Daljit Singh Ahluwalia and their OSD-cum-Senior Assistant Ajay Malhotra. Thori had written to the CP on the basis of the EO’s report which mentioned that there were 120 files of various scheme areas, which were in the custody of Malhotra, who had taken them to Ahluwalia, and not returned them to the office. The plot/flat allottees, who wanted to sell or buy these properties had got stuck up, as the clerical staff had claimed that the files were missing. But now the applicants, who had been daily making rounds to the office of the JIT for the past few months, are now feel- ing relieved as they believe that their work might be possible now. This afternoon, Malhotra claimed to have found at least 70 of the missing 120 files from the record room. “I am being wrongly framed. I had no file in my custody. I had kept back all files in the record room. No one tried to look for the socalled missing files. The negligence of other staff is being put on me owing to vested interests,” said Malhotra. The office insiders said it was sheer politics which was leading to harassment of the applicants. “The EO and some staff members are on one side and the ex-Chairman, Malhotra and other employees on the other side. Both sides are slinging mud on one another. Those who are facing the problems is the general public and the allottees. The mess is increasing day after day. Things have begun to fall in line but there remains much to be done,” they said. The applicants on the other hand have been demanding digitisation of all record and installation of CCTV cameras in the JIT office for streamlining its functioning. Gang of mobile snatchers, drug peddlers busted Five Jal BPEOs get charge of N’shahr block Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Jalandhar, April 26 The police on Tuesday busted a gang involved in drugs smuggling and mobile snatching and seized 12-gm smack and 27 mobiles from the accused. Commissioner of Police Gurpreet Singh Toor said they got a tip-off that a drug trafficking gang was operative in the city. He said DCP JS Teja and ACP Waryam Singh constituted a team led by Parminder Singh, SHO Basti Bawa Khel, and arrested the drug trafficker from near Shiv Temple in Raj Nagar. He said the accused, identified as Saurav, had been indulged in the crime for long. He said the drug trafficker was arrested by the police twice in 2021 after which he was released on bail. He said the accused has admitted that he came into contact with a drug supplier of Amritsar, identified as Kaka. Toor said the accused used to give drugs to addicts in lieu of the mobiles snatched from people. Jalandhar, April 26 Two days after The Tribune published a report highlighting the vacant posts of Block Primary Education Officers (BPEOs) in Nawanshahr district, the office of Director of Punjab Education Department has released orders giving additional charge of Nawanshahr blocks to five Jalandhar BPEOs. Tribune News Service Kapurthala, April 26 The wife of slain Ravi Gill on Tuesday decided to postpone his bhog which had been fixed for Wednesday afternoon outside the Kapurthala city police station where he had been torched on April 17. Gill’s wife said she had been approached by the police officials today to cancel the programme. She said, “I had decided to hold the bhog outside the police station to pressurise the police to take the case to its logical end. There are 11 accused in the case and only five have been arrested so far. I want the police to make a quick headway and bring all the accused behind the bars. The SSP has today given me an assurance on the same.” She said she had another demand. “I put forth the demand of cancellation of all false FIRs against me and all those persons who have helped me in my case recently. The SSP assured me on this front too after which I post- Seeks cancellation of FIR against her; SSP assures of action in case poned the bhog by three-four days. This is just a postponement. If I would sense that the police are not serious about the case, I may re-schedule it again outside the police station. If there would be some action by this weekend, I will change the venue to my place or gurdwara”, she said. The incident pertains to torching of Activa-borne Ravi Gill on April 17. He had been helping his wife get out of the prostitution racket and had gone to the police station for protection from the assailants when he was burnt there. The couple had already approached the police and the court for protection from the accused when the incident occurred. Students discuss paper outside an examination centre in Jalandhar on Tuesday. SARABJIT SINGH CBSE Class X, XII exams begin Tribune News Service Jalandhar, April 26 Being held almost two months behind their usual schedule, the examination of Classes X and XII on Tuesday finally began in all schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Examination (CBSE). While students of Class X appeared for painting exam, Class XII students had their exam of vocational subject of beauty and wellness. Since these subjects are being offered by very few schools, only 10 per cent of the citybased schools conducted the first examination today. Police DAV School Principal Rashmi Vij said all arrangements were in place and the examination went on smoothly as per the CBSE directions. “Even the students had no issues with the question paper today,” she said. Principal of Sanskriti KMV School Rachna Monga said, “We did not have either of the two examination on our campus today but we will be hosting examination tomorrow. Our campus is the centre for three schools, including Dayanand Model School, Royal World School and St Soldier Divine School. Our children will be going to Dayanand Model School. Thankfully, the continued on page 2 THE TRIBUNE IMPACT As per the orders, Jalandhar BPEOs namely Chaman Lal, Bal Krishan, Jaswinder Singh, Roshan Lal and Ranjit Singh will be present in Nawanshahr every week for two days. The above said BPEOs in the orders have been asked to render their services efficiently and manage the working of primary schools in both the districts with utmost dedication. Meanwhile, the issue of vacant posts of BPEOs came to light after primary teachers continued on page 2 New IKGPTU VC makes maiden visit to varsity, bats for more admissions Tribune News Service Kapurthala, April 26 Principal Secretary Technical Education and the 17th Vice-Chancellor of IK Gujral Punjab Technical University (IKGPTU) Rahul Bhandari visited the campus on Tuesday for the first time. Making a surprise inspection, the VC visited the classrooms and interacted with students. He directed the deans to provide necessary equipment in hostels, playgrounds, bus stop outside the university, canteen infrastructure and in the academic buildings. A 1997-batch IAS officer, Bhandari has recently taken over the charge as the Principal Secretary, Technical Education and Industrial Training Department of the state. As per the orders of Governor Punjab, the additional charge of the post of VC has been vested with the Principal Secretary Technical Education till a regular appointment as per the UGC. During his first meeting with various department heads, officers and faculty members of the university, he said faculty, academic staff and administrative officers should work together. He also reviewed the preparations of Rahul Bhandari (left), 17th Vice Chancellor, IKGPTU, interacts with students on the varsity campus. c m y b the university for the new admission session 2022-23. He advised to get a good number of admissions with quality students. He asked the admission cell officials to publicise about the infrastructure of the university, faculty with maximum PhD qualifications and the availability of colleges near to students’ homes established in each district of the state. He ordered the university authorities to take a new initiative within a week to provide admission opportunities to students near their homes. He also advised faculty and staff to promote the university’s initiatives towards quality technical education. He encouraged the university faculty and officials to do exemplary work in admissions. Bhandari addressed the faculty and told them, “Universities are for the students and from the students. To build a prosperous knowledge society, universities should work tirelessly. It is important for the staff of educational institutions to be very much serious and responsible for the work related to facilitation to the education sector.” He emphasised that the problems and requirements of the students have to be resolved first.