28052022-ATR-01.qxd 28-05-2022 00:02 Page 1 c m y b Amritsar TRIBUNE GOVT MUST STOP VICTIMISATION OF TEACHERS, DEMANDS DTF PAGE 2 A demand letter/notice was sent to the Punjab Education Minister through the Amritsar District Education Officer (S). FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY SKY INBRIEF KHADI GRAMODYOG STALL AT RLY STN Amritsar:Under the ambitious ‘One Station One Product’ scheme, the local railway station has set up a temporary stall of Khadi Gramodyog. For this, a special kiosk has been set up to display and sell the items at negligible costs for 15 days. Rameshwar, a salesman at the counter, said the stall, which was set up on May 24, was attracting a good number of customers. He said people always reposed trust in a brand. The Khadi Gramodyog stall is selling khadi-made kurtapyjama, towels, bed sheets, fabric and others items. Besides, it is also selling honey, shampoo and silk garments. The local railway station is among the 152 railway stations selected in Punjab, Himachal, and Jammu and Kashmir to allow access to rail passengers to experience the rich heritage of the country. TNS PWD EMPLOYEE KILLED IN MISHAP Tarn Taran: One person was killed on the spot in a road accident on the Tarn TaranKhadoor Sahib road on Wednesday when his motorcycle was hit from the rear by a speeding car. The victim has been identified as Dheer Singh (55), a resident of Fatehbad village, who was a PWD employee. The victim was going to Khadoor Sahib when the incident happened. The postmortem was conducted at the local Civil Hospital on Thursday. OC CELEBS MOURN SUDDEN DEMISE OF GOODFELLAS ACTOR LIOTTA PAGE 3 News of his demise was confirmed by his publicist, who revealed that Ray Liotta passed away in his sleep. MAX 40°C | MIN 26°C | YESTERDAY MAX 40°C | MIN 26°C SUNSET SATURDAY 7:28 PM GATEWAY OF INDIA LIT UP FOR LAUNCH OF STRANGER THINGS 4 In celebration of Stranger Things, rifts will start appearing on some of the most iconic monuments on the globe! SUNRISE SUNDAY 5:27 AM SATURDAY | 28 MAY 2022 | AMRITSAR DSR: Farm union opposes online registration norm to get ~1,500 Five months on, cops fail to trace 12-yr-old Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee says farmers are not tech-savvy Amritsar, May 27 Even after a lapse of five months, Beas police have failed to arrest suspects or trace the whereabouts of the kidnapped minor boy (12year-old). Disappointed with the functioning of the police, the victim’s parents on Friday approached SSP Amrit, sar (Rural), Swarndeep Singh seeking his intervention. Taking a serious view of this, the SSP has appointed Deputy Superintendent of Police (crime against woman) Sukhwinder Singh Brar to look into the case. He asked him to submit a report to him in this regard. The victim, identified as Vanshroop, went missing from his native village Kartarpur on December 23 and the family accused some relatives of his abduction. They lodged a complaint with Beas police in this regard. However, an FIR was registered four months after the incident after the victim’s family made rounds of the police station and approached senior police officials. Among the suspects included Sukhwinder Singh, a relative of the family. The victim’s mother Kuldeep Kaur and her husband said Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 27 Leaders of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, Punjab, opposed the condition of registration on web portal to get ~1,500 for direct sowing of paddy here on Friday. The leaders claimed that most of the farmers are illiterate and not tech-savvy to get themselves registered on the web portal. They have to face major inconvenience to get ~1,500 from the government. Sarwan Singh Pandher, state general secretary of the committee, said, “The government should adopt some easy mechanism to award ~1,500 to those farmers who adopted the DSR technique. We oppose the move of the government and they have to withdraw the condition of registration on portal.” The KMSC conducted a meeting with the Chief Engineer, Border Zone, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), for their demands to provide uninterrupted power supply during the paddy season. The union had given a call to demonstrate Reap benefits, CAO to farmers A group of farmers burns an effigy of the Centre and the state government during a protest in Amritsar on Friday. VISHAL KUMAR against PSPCL on May 30. PSPCL officials assured them of fulfilling their demands. Earlier, on the call of the committee, a large number of farmers gathered outside the PSPCL Border Zone office and burn an effigy of the union and the state government for ignoring their demands and anti-farmer policies. The farmers alleged that Bhagwant Mann-led government had assured them of providing the minimum support price (MSP) on moong dal, but there was no buyer in the grain markets to buy the pulse. Pandher said, “We have giv- en a call to demonstrate against PSPCL on May 30 regarding their demands related to power. The Chief Engineer today assured them of fulfilling the demands.” “The moong crop has arrived in the mandis, but the procurement by the government has not started yet. The Bhagwant Maan government failed on every front. Who is responsible for routine deaths of youth due to drugs? The police department is in a deep slumber,” added Pandher. The farmers also demanded the restoration of canal water supply for irrigation purposes. The state government launched a direct seeding of rice (DSR) portal to facilitate the farmers to give their willingness for area to be sown with the DSR technology. Chief Agriculture Officer Dr Paramjit Singh said on Friday that it would be instrumental in compiling the entire data about each and every farmer, who has opted for the DSR technique, besides ensuring payment of ~1,500 per acre after proper verification through this portal to the genuine beneficiaries in a fair and transparent manner. Appraising the portal, the Chief Agriculture Officer said after proper verification, the incentive of ~1,500 per acre would directly be transferred into the bank accounts of the respective farmers. He said this unique portal had been developed and designed by the Mandi Board with the help of the Agriculture Department. With the adoption of this innovative technology, there would be at least 15-20 per cent saving of water, besides helping in effective percolation of water ultimately improving the groundwater level through proper recharging. This cost-effective technique would also cut down the labour costs by nearly ~4,000 per acre. He stated that they had already deployed officials of various departments, including the Agriculture, Horticulture, Mandi Board and Water and Soil Conservation, to oversee the DSR operations meticulously for imparting proper technical guidance to farmers as well as undertaking verification of the area sown under this advanced technology so as to ensure that the payment of ~1,500 per acre was only made to the genuine beneficiaries.. He said last year farmers from the district adopted the DSR on 3,000 hectares and this season, they had set a target of 66,000 acres under the technique. Minor’s parents seek SSP’s intervention Tribune News Service In midnight inspection, Transport MC starts demolishing Minister challans 18 vehicles in city hotel’s dilapidated portion Bhullar says e-rickshaws cannot run without number plates Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 27 Around 18 vehicles, including trucks and buses, were challaned for not complying with the norms during a midnight inspection conducted by Transport Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar. Accompanied by staff of the Regional Transport Authoirty (RTA), Bhullar inspected vehicles by setting up nakas on the Amritsar-Jalandhar GT Road and the Vallah bypass. During the surprise inspection, he checked tax, weight, etc, documents and other security arrangements. Giving details, Arshdeep Singh, Secretary, RTA, said 18 vehicles, including trucks and buses, were challaned at 1 am. He said many of these vehicles were found overloaded either with goods or PAGE 4 Transport Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar inspects vehicles in Amritsar. straw, which was in direct contravention of the rules. In addition, some tourist buses were challaned due to lack of documents and unpaid taxes. He said the message of the Transport Minister was very clear that no vehicle could be allowed to run in vio- lation of the rules, especially one which could endanger the life and property. He appealed to heavy vehicle owners not to resort to overloading. Meanwhile, in a separate meeting held with dealers selling e-rickshaws, Arshdeep categorically stated that the plying of e-rickshaws without the number plates was illegal and they should be registered with the department as soon as possible. Giving a week’s time to all the dealers to complete all documents, he said after next Friday, if any dealer would try to sell e-rickshaws without the number plates, strict action would be taken against them as per the law. He asked the dealers to prepare their trade certificates and get the IDs of e-rickshaws registered. Following this, every e-rickshaw sold should be registered online with the department and the number obtained must be affixed on e-rickshaws. He also clarified to all e-rickshaw owners that they should get the number plates of their vehicles and bring them on the city roads only after affixing them on their vehicles. DIGGING CASE Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 27 The Amritsar Municipal Corporation has started the process of demolishing the dilapidated portion of Grand Hotel. Officials of the Municipal Town Planning wing claimed that demolition is being conducted under the supervision of technical experts. They are taking care of all safety measures. The front side of Grand Hotel was demolished using a trolley-mounted ditch machine here on Friday. Assistant Town Planner Parminderjeet Singh stated that employees of the MTP wing were conducting demolition with care, so it would not affect any nearby establishment. The workers are also removing the debris from the basement. Meanwhile, the affected residents conducted a meet- An MC employee demolishes a dilapidated wall of Grand Hotel. ing and discussed the conditions of agreement proposed with the owner of the upcoming hotel. Simran Singh, a resident, said, “We are not satisfied with some of the conditions of the builder. We will discuss it with MLA Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh. He is the only person we can count on. He helped us a lot in this issue. We will meet Kunwar Vijay soon and discuss our concerns with him.” It is worth mentioning here that a major portion of Grand Hotel collapsed due to the continued on page 2 Honest GRP personnel return valuables to elderly NRI 90-yr-old forgot his belongings at city railway station Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 27 A 90-year-old US-based NRI, Mulakh Raj, had never thought that he would get back his valuables kept in the hand bag which he forgot at the railway station here on Thursday. However, personnel of the Government Railway Police (GRP), who found the bag, managed to trace his relatives in Amritsar and ultimately returned the bag, which was containing an Apple laptop, two mobiles, tab, camera and other things, to him. DSP Surinder Kumar said such gestures go a long way in improving the image of the police department. He handed over the belongings to the NRI. Mulakh Raj said he had visited around 120 countries and never had such a wonderful experience. “After losing my bag, I was disappointed and thought that I would never get it back. I was to lodge a complaint to the GRP today. Thankfully, they already found and returned it to me. Me and my family was indebted to the GRP he said. ,” Dharminder Kalyan, SHO, GRP police station, said Mulakh Raj came to Amritsar from Delhi on Thursday morning to meet some relatives in Rani Ka Bagh area. Being an aged person, he forgot his briefcase and a hand bag at the railway station. Instead of going to Rani Ka Bagh, he lost his way towards the bus stand side. He said when his officials told him about finding the bag, they opened it and found the valuables. He said they also found a diary from it. With the help of the diary they contacted their relatives in Rani Ka Bagh area. However, Mulkh Raj’s number was switched off. In the evening when his mobile was switched on, his relatives traced him at the bus stand and brought him to the police station c m y b The kidnapped victim’s parents outside the office of SSP (Rural) on Friday. Sukhwinder and his unidentified accomplice had taken the boy from the house and since then Vanshroop had not returned home. Following a two-month probe, the police have now booked Sukhwinder for kidnapping the child. The family alleged that the sarpanch of the village was influencing police investigation in order to save the accused. The family members alleged that a cop came to them a day before yesterday, got some papers signed, but they were not informed about the papers they signed. ~25L drug money recovered from father-son duo Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 27 The Special Task Force (STF) has recovered alleged drug money of ~25.50 lakh during the interrogation of a fruit trader, Amrik Singh, and his son Prabhdeep Singh who were arrested by it for drug trafficking around a week ago. The police had confiscated 3.5 kg of heroin from their possession. Rashpal Singh, AIG, Special Task Force, said they had allegedly earned the amount through illegal drug trade. Amrik Singh owns a shop in Hall Gate area. He and his son entered the illegal trade for easy money, the police said. The police had also arrested a medical representative allegedly working with hawala racketeers, identified as Sarabjit Singh, with them. The heroin was concealed in the car in which they were travelling. The police claimed that they were involved in the drug smuggling for the past couple of years. They also had contacts with the cross-border smugglers based near the International Border. He said a case under the NDPS Act was registered with the STF police station in Mohali and further investigations were in progress. 4 nabbed with heroin, cash << Officials of the GRP, Amritsar railway station, hand over a bag containing valuables to the NRI passenger in Amritsar on Friday. VISHAL KUMAR The Amritsar rural police have arrested four persons for drug trafficking in two separate incidents and recovered heroin and sedative pills from their possession. Chatiwind police arrested Amarjit Singh of Gumtala and Sukhdeep Singh of Bishambarpura village and recovered 100-gm heroin from their possession. ASI Jagjit Singh said a police team stationed at Mehma village continued on page 2