30052022-LT-01.qxd 30-05-2022 00:50 Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana TRIBUNE ACQUIRE MODERN EQUIPMENT TO MAKE CITY FIRE-PROOF Residents bat for recruitment of regular staff, fire safety awareness and training to meet the challenge. FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY INBRIEF 35-YR-OLD DIES OF ‘DRUG OVERDOSE’ PAGE 2 MANYA MAKES A DAZZLING DEBUT AT CANNES RED CARPET PAGE 3 SHABANA RECALLS HER CASTING IN AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY Manya Pathak, who is known for her role in Zee TV’s show Dilli Darlings, was last seen in movie Dvand. MAX 40°C | MIN 25°C | YESTERDAY MAX 39°C | MIN 23°C SUNSET MONDAY 7:24 PM PAGE 4 Late filmmaker Manmohan Desai’s movie Amar Akbar Anthony has completed 45 years of its release. SUNRISE TUESDAY 5:24 AM MONDAY | 30 MAY 2022 | LUDHIANA MC ignores poor condition Private colony developed on common land in Giaspura of multi-storey parking lot MC officials face allegations of connivance with developer Ludhiana: Sukhwinder Singh (35), a native of Ferozepur, at present staying at an EWS colony, allegedly died due to drug overdose on Sunday. The deceased’s brother said the victim had got married about 10 years ago and he was staying at his in-laws’ house since then. “My brother was a drug addict. Four days ago, his health deteriorated and he was admitted to the Civil Hospital here. He breathed his last at the hospital this morning,” he said. The deceased’s wife said he even used to steal money from the house to buy drugs. Meanwhile, the deceased’s family said drugs were easily available on the Tajpur road and the police had failed to control the menace. The deceased is survived by his wife and two daughters. TNS 6 MOBILES SEIZED FROM JAIL INMATES Ludhiana: A surprise check in the Central Jail, Ludhiana, led to the recovery of six mobile phones. The mobiles were recovered from belongings of four inmates. A case under the Prison Act was registered against the four inmates, Hari Om, Hardeep Singh, Prince Aggarwal and Gurmeet Singh. Assistant Jail Superintendent Sarup Chand said on May 27, jail staff had conducted a search operation during which belongings of the inmates were checked and suspected inmates were also frisked, which led to the recovery of the cell phones. He said now, a probe would be conducted to inquire the source through which cell phones were delivered inside the jail. A few days ago, 17 mobile phones were recovered from the jail during a surprise check. TNS 18-yr-old worker killed in factory wall collapse Tribune News Service Ludhiana, May 29 An 18-year-old factory worker died after one of the walls of the factory collapsed on him on its fourth floor here late on Saturday evening. The deceased was identified as Raja Jha. He was working with the factory on the Sekhewal road for the past around two years. Kin of the deceased said yesterday, when gusty winds were blowing, the worker went on the fourth floor of the factory to answer the nature’s call. When he was passing from near the wall, it collapsed and fell on him. He was taken to a hospital but doctors declared him brought dead. Later in the night, the kin of the deceased had also held a protest and demanded action against the factory owner. The police had also assured justice to the protesters. On Sunday, the deceased’s family and the factory authorities reached a compromise in the matter. Daresi SHO Rajinder Pal Singh said since both parties reached a compromise, no legal action was taken in the case. Broken floors, defunct lifts, lack of water & facilities irk visitors Harshraj Singh Tribune News Service Ludhiana, May 29 The multi-storey parking lot of the Municipal Corporation at Zone A near Mata Rani Chowk is crying for attention as broken floors and poor sanitary conditions cause inconvenience to visitors. It seems various parts have not been even cleaned for a long time as waste is getting collected at the lot. Lifts are lying defunct while the firefighting system and other equipment are seemingly in a poor shape. It lacks a proper lighting system on floors wherein foul smell welcomes visitors. Toilets have been filled with waste while open urination is a common practice. There is no facility of water. A site for a rooftop restaurant on the terrace is lying in a pathetic condition for years. The civic body has also failed to pay attention to around 20 cars that are lying in a dilapidated condition on various floors of the building. It seems the vehicles, which are covered with dust, had been parked many months ago. Questions are also being raised as tyres of a number of cars are missing. Notably, the multi-storey (multi-level) parking lot Abandoned cars at the MC’s multi-level parking lot at Zone A in Ludhiana. PHOTO: INDERJEET VERMA NO ACTION TAKEN AGAINST ERRING CONTRACTOR Over a week ago, MLA Ashok Parashar Pappi conducted a surprise check at the parking lot and found parking staff overcharging visitors. The visitors were being charged Rs 80 against the prescribed car parking fee of Rs 20, according to the MLA. But, the MC is yet to take action against the parking lot contractor. building was constructed at a cost of Rs 12.9 crore while it has the capacity of 435 four-wheelers and 620 twowheelers. The project was inaugurated in 2000. In 2014, the MC made a proposal to spend Rs 8 crore on the renovation of the parking lot building and it was also decided to open 100 shops with eateries here but noth- 30-yr-old man booked for raping three year old Ludhiana, May 29 A 30-year-old man raped a three-and-a-half-year-old child in Khanna on Saturday night. The suspect, Pappu Yadav, had taken the child with him on the pretext of buying some eatables for her. But he took her to some isolated place where he committed the crime. The victim’s father, a resident of Focal Point, Khanna, said the suspect was his neighbour and he used to visit their house frequently. On Saturday night, he came home and said he wanted to buy some eatables for the child and he took her along with him for the same. “When the suspect did not return home even after an hour, I made several calls to him but he failed to respond. Later, he dropped the child at home and fled the spot. It was only when my child revealed about the incident, she was taken to a hospital for treatment,” the complainant alleged. The police today registered a case against the suspect who is still at large. — TNS ing was done. The Local Government had later given a nod for the renovation of the building but to no avail. The floors have got damaged from different portions. A senior Congress leader, Parminder Mehta, said no steps had been taken to improve parking conditions and provide facilities to visitors at the parking lot. “It is the responsibility of the MC to ensure repair of the broken floors and make arrangement of a proper lighting system there. The lifts should be made functional. The civic body must ensure provision of proper toilets and drinking water facility for visitors. Also, a waiting area with seating arrangement should be set up on the ground floor,” he said. Mehta also demanded from the MC authorities to conduct a probe if any funds were spent on repair works at the lot during recent years. Kuldip Bhatia Ludhiana, May 29 A private colony with residential plots and commercial buildings is under development allegedly on around 5 acres of land in Giaspura here. Earmarked as property of ‘leh langar’ (community kitchen), it had been declared as ‘common land’ land by the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the apex court. Though it was being alleged that several political leaders had made a fortune in this dubious deal, role of officials of the building branch of the Municipal Corporation had also come under a shadow of doubt for their open connivance with the developer. In a complaint to Punjab Chief Minister, a social activist, Rachpal Singh Gabria, has alleged that MC Zone C Assistant Town Planner Satish Malhotra and field staff of the building branch were in cahoots with land mafia, which was behind development of the colony. Asserting that money had changed hands before the colony was allowed to be developed during the Covid-induced lockdown, he said the then political leaders also had their fingers in the pie. Gabria said the High Court The colony constructed on a common land in Giaspura, Ludhiana. had ruled way back in August 1968 that the land was meant for langar (community kitchen) and the Apex Court had upheld the HC orders in January 1980. “Taking cognisance of the court orders, the Revenue, Rehabilitation and Disaster Management Department had issued directions to the Deputy Commissioner (DC) to secure these ‘common’ lands in various villages and the DC office had accordingly instructed all revenue officials that these lands could not be sold, transferred, leased out, mortgaged or alienated in any manner,” he added, quoting orders made by the state government and the Deputy Commissioner. The complaint further charged the officials concerned (of MC building branch) with passing the buck – the inspectors charg- ing ATP and the ATP attributing the development of colony to political leaders. He also claimed that sale deeds of the plot/property owners carried khasra numbers of some other area while possession was given to buyers in part of the ‘community kitchen’ land. ATP Satish Malhotra said the matter had been taken up with the Revenue Department for demarcation of land shown in the sale deeds of plots and commercial property owners. He also said the developer of the colony had already applied for regularisation. “If any discrepancy is found in khasra numbers and actual possession of land, or if it is established that the colony has been carved out on common (langar) land, appropriate action as per rules would be taken,” he said. Woman beats mother-in-law Woman booked on to death at Falaund village extortion charges Mandi Ahmedgarh, May 29 The police have booked a woman of Falaund village in Malerkotla district for allegedly beating her motherin-law, Sheela Kaur, to death on Saturday evening. The suspect has been identified as Mandeep Kaur. Bikker Singh of Ranwan village, brother of the deceased, found injury marks on the arm, neck and face of his sister’s body when their family and relatives were preparing for her last rites. Later, he informed the police about the matter. Having registered an FIR on the statement of Bikker, police officials sent the body to the Civil Hospital, Malerkotla, for autopsy. Bikker alleged that Mandeep Kaur had started harassing his sister after she got married to Shiv Ram, the only son of the deceased, in 2009. “Besides harassing my sister mentally, Mandeep used to assault her physically. On many occasions, she was sent to stay with us at Ranwan. We used to intervene in the matter and persuade the victim to bear the alleged aggressive behaviour of her daughter-in-law on the request of Shiv Ram,” he said. He said: “We were informed by the victim’s family that Sheela Kaur had died on Saturday evening and her cremation would be held on Sunday.” Though the police have named only Mandeep Kaur in the FIR, more names may be included for shielding the suspect and conspiring to destroy the evidence by cremating the victim’s body without informing the police. Sadar SHO Sikandar Singh Cheema said the suspect had escaped after she came to know that the deceased’s brother had informed the police about the matter. The police have launched a hunt to arrest the woman. — OC Ludhiana, May 29 The PAU police station registered a case against a woman who blackmailed a businessman to extort money from him yesterday. The woman had threatened the latter that if he did not to give her money she would lodge a fake rape case against him. The suspect has been identified as Mandeep Kaur of Bathinda. Complainant Katendu Sharma of Kitchlu Nagar told the police that the woman was in touch with his friend Sanjiv Kumar. She wanted to extort money from Sanjiv on some pretext. “When I came to know about the matter, I told Sanjiv not to give any money to the woman. When she came to know about my intervention, she started blackmailing me. The woman asked me to give her money, else she will file a fake rape case against me,” the complainant alleged. The complainant said when the woman started issuing life threats to him, he lodged a police complaint, after which a case was registered against her. Investigating officer inspector Gurpreet Singh said after registering a case, probe was launched in the case. — TNS Project to make city rabies-free fails to take off Three more found Harshraj Singh CIVIC BODY YET TO FLOAT TENDERS Tribune News Service Ludhiana, May 29 The proposed project of the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, to make the city free of rabies (a fatal but preventable disease) is yet to see the light of the day. Tenders for the project were planned to be floated last year but these could not be even floated till date. Under the project, the MC has planned to administer vaccines to all stray and pet dogs in the city free of cost for the prevention of rabies The civic body’s veterinary branch is struggling with an acute shortage of staff to run such a project. Thus, the MC’s senior veterinary officer concerned is pinning big hopes on the Animal Husbandry Department and Guru Angad Dev Veterinary A senior veterinary official has claimed that all stray dogs in the city will be sterilised by end of the current fiscal. HIMANSHU MAHAJAN and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) to provide required staff for carrying out the drive to vaccinate the stray and pet dogs for the prevention of rabies. MC’s Senior Veterinary Officer Harbans Dhalla said: “We have got the required approval to start the tendering process for the project. But, some work is yet to be done before floating the tenders. Actually, we need support from six hospitals of the Animal Husbandry Department and one hospital of GADAVSU for vaccinating the dogs under the project. Once we get the assurance of getting support from these institutions, we will c m y b Tenders for the proposed project of the Municipal Corporation to make the city free of rabies were planned to be floated last year but these could not be even floated till date. Under the project, the the civic body has planned to administer vaccines to all stray and pet dogs in the city free of cost for the prevention of rabies. float the tenders too. We will make efforts that all dogs get vaccinated for the prevention of rabies every year, continuously for at least next three-four years.” He said the vaccination course was required for dogs for the prevention of rabies, which was a zoonotic, viral and lethal disease. Mean- while, he claimed that all stray dogs in the city would be sterilised by the end of the current financial year. The stray dogs were being sterilised at the MC’s Animal Birth Control Centre at the Haibowal Dairy Complex. Notably, the MC has not prepared a record of the actual number of stray dogbite cases being reported in the city. But, a large number of patients bitten by stray dogs commonly visit civil hospitals. A number of patients suffering from dog bites visit private facilities too for the treatment. In 2020, an autopsy of three stray dogs confirmed they were suffering from rabies. A few persons also reportedly died of rabies in recent years. In 2021, a citybased girl reportedly fall prey to rabies. infected with Covid Ludhiana, May 29 Three fresh cases of Covid were reported while no person died due to the virus in the district on Sunday. A total of 1,09,943 persons have tested positive for the virus since March 2020 while 2,280 persons from the district have succumbed to the virus so far. The recovery rate of Covid19 patients today was 97.91 per cent. There were 17 active cases in the district and the patients were told to isolate themselves at their homes by the Health Department. At present, no Covid patient is admitted to any hospital in Ludhiana. Till date, a total of 35,90,887 samples have been taken, of which 34,66,177 were found negative. COVID-19 FIGURES SAMPLES POSITIVE ACTIVE 35,90,887 1,09,943 17 1 DEATHS 2,280 For any information related to Covid Contact: 0161-2444193 & 4622276 Samples of 2,863 suspected patients were sent for testing today, the results of which are expected shortly. — TNS