13062022-ATR-01.qxd 6/12/2022 11:31 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar TRIBUNE LATEST INFRA TO CONTROL AND EXTINGUISH FIRES NEED OF HOUR State fire services are ill-equipped & lack both manpower and machines to tackle any situation, say residents. FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY INBRIEF CARTRIDGE SEIZED FROM AIR TRAVELLER Amritsar: A cartridge was seized from a passenger departing from Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport here on Sunday. The passenger was handed over to the police by Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel. The police are investigating the matter. According to information, the passenger was to take a flight from Amritsar to Delhi, so he booked a connecting flight to England. As he arrived at the airport to take the flight, immigration officials found a .32 bore cartridge in his bag while checking his immigration and scanning his bag. He was immediately detained and interrogated by CISF personnel. The passenger had an ammunition licence at his house. TNS JAL DC THORI TAKES CHARGE OF ADA Amritsar: Immediately after assuming the additional charge of Chief Administrator of the Amritsar Development Authority (ADA), Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori took round of residential and commercial properties, including group housing, chunk, SCOs, school sites, shops, plots, booths in Mental Hospital near Trillium Mall, Sri Guru Ram Dass Urban Estate (Old Jail site), PUDA Avenue, commercial pocket at Ranjit Avenue Sector 4, Canal Colony, Irrigation and Milkfed, Verka, Civil Hospital, Batala, etc, here on Friday. He visited various residential and commercial sites in the holy city under the Optimum Utilization of Vacant Government Land scheme of the state government. Taking note of pending dues in crores, Thori also directed officials to put up cases of pending dues against unauthorised colonisers so that these hefty amounts could be deposited in the state exchequer. TNS KIRTI KISAN UNION HOLDS MEETING Tarn Taran: A meeting of the state body of the Kirti Kisan Union Punjab (KKUP) was organised here on Sunday. It was chaired by Hardev Singh Sandhu, state president of KKUP, to discuss the demands and issues of the farming community. The union had announced to apprise farmers of falling underground water level and how to recharge it with certain methods. The KKUP demanded to make arrangements to reach canal water at every farmer's fields. The union was peeved over the state of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), which was divided over several issues. The union demanded the restructuring of the SKM. The union supported the public welfare steps taken by the state government led by AAP. OC 47-YR-OLD RUN OVER BY TRAIN Tarn Taran: Sarabjit Singh (47), a resident of Gohalwar village, was run over by a train near his village on Saturday night on the Amritsar-Khemkaran rail lines. The victim was on his way to a market for his daughter's wedding, which was due on Sunday. The incident happened when he was crossing over the rail lines and due to heavy wind, he failed to observe the approaching train. SubInspector Gurwinder Singh, incharge of the local police post of the Government Railways Police (GRP), said a report under Section 174 of the CrPC had been registered. OC PAGE 2 SALMAN JOINS KAMAL HAASAN TO CELEBRATE VIKRAM SUCCESS PAGE 3 GOING PLACES: HINA KHAN TO PROMOTE ABU DHABI TOURISM Chiranjeevi hosted a get-together at his residence on June 11 to celebrate success of Kamal Haasan’s Vikram. MAX 43°C | MIN 28°C | YESTERDAY MAX 43°C | MIN 28°C SUNSET MONDAY 7:36 PM Hina Khan is now an internationally recognised personality, not only for her fashion choices, but also for her projects. SUNRISE TUESDAY 5:25 AM 3 murders in 24 hours rock city Rising incidents of crime also raise a question mark over police efficiency PK Jaiswar AAP INCAPABLE OF MAINTAINING LAW & ORDER, SAYS CONGRESS MP AUJLA Tribune News Service Amritsar, June 12 A day after a grocer was shot dead by an AAP volunteer on 100-feet road, the holy city was rocked by two murders in the past 24 hours, raising a question mark over the functioning of the city police. While a Dubai-based NRI was shot dead by four unidentified assailants, a woman was strangled to death in Gwal Mandi area near Putlighar by unidentified thieves who decamped with cash and jewellery kept in the house. The victim was identified as Kamini Devi (65). She was alone in the house as her nephew had gone to Pathankot for some work. She runs a grocery shop in the house. Besides, a family lives as a tenant on the first floor of the house. When she did not open the shop this morning, her neighbour got suspicious. When they asked the tenant living on the first floor about the shop remaining closed, they expressed ignorance. Then nearby residents called the police that got the shutters of the shop and the door of the house opened. They found her dead. There were strangulation marks on her body. District MP Gurjeet Aujla condemned the deteriorating law and order situation in Punjab while pointing out that the AAP government had failed miserably in maintaining law and order. “The AAP is incapable of maintaining law and order in Punjab,” he said. The Punjab Government was being run from Delhi. He said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann should not act like a puppet at the hands of national AAP convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The CM should take decisions on his own for the sake of Punjab. MANN FAILED TO DELIVER: SARKAR People gather outside the residence of a woman who was strangled to death in Gwal Mandi area on Sunday. DUBAI-BASED NRI SHOT DEAD A Dubai-based NRI Harinder Singh was shot dead by armed assailants in Ghanupur Kale area when he along with his family was going to pay obeisance at a shrine in Chheharta on Sunday morning. Jewellery she was wearing was also missing. The unidentified accused also broke open the almirah and took away cash and ornaments. Geetanzali Vij, a relative of the victim, said she got information from her neighbours around 8.45 pm that unidentified persons decamped with gold ornaments worth lakhs of rupees, besides cash from almirahs. They also took away the jewellery she was wearing. She said apparently she identified the thieves who later strangled her to death. Rajwinder Kaur, SHO, Cantonment police station, said following a preliminary probe it appeared that some drug addict killed her while stealing items from the house. She would have identified the suspect. Further investigations were in progress. In the wee hours, a Dubaibased NRI was shot dead by PAGE 4 Minister of State for Education Dr Subhash Sarkar has stated that the law and order situation is going out of control in the state as the Bhagwant Mann government has failed to deliver the goods. Addressing mediapersons at the district BJP office here on Sunday, he apprised them of different social welfare schemes being offered by the Narendra Modi government. Senior BJP leader Avinash Rai Khanna, endorsing the stand of Dr Sarkar, said daily crime graph pointed towards deteriorating law and order. armed assailants in Ghanupur Kale area when he along with his family was going to pay obeisance at a shrine in Chheharta this morning. Three back-to-back murders expose an alarming deterioration in the law and order situation since the day the AAP government took over. Incidents of snatchings and robberies are on the increase. There is a sense of insecurity among the residents, especially woman and trading community. Police Commissioner Arun Pal Singh said the police had arrested the prime accused in yesterday’s murder while the Dubai NRI murder case was also solved. He said the police also got clues about the Gwal Mandi murder case. He said nobody would be allowed to create law and order problems in the city. He said strict action would be taken against those who committed crimes. MONDAY | 13 JUNE 2022 | AMRITSAR Prime suspect held, SHO among six cops suspended GROCER’S MURDER Tribune News Service Amritsar, June 12 The police on Sunday arrested Charandeep Singh Babba, an AAP volunteer and son of an MC councillor in connection with murder of a grocery shop owner Gurpartap Singh Raja, here. Police Commissioner Arun Pal Singh also suspended Lovedeep Singh, Station House Officer, Division B police station, and five cops, who were on duty when the incident took place, for dereliction of duty. Besides Babba, the police also booked his two brothers Rimpy and Happy, all residents of Azad Nagar area, Dharminder Singh Bhollu, a Nihang Sikh identified as Nona and three unidentified persons on charges of murder, attempt to murder and under the Arms Act following the statement of the victim’s wife Rajbir Kaur. The police also recovered the pistol used in the crime. Deputy Commissioner of Police Parminder Singh Bhandal confirmed that SHO Lovedeep Singh was sus- pended and shifted to the Police Lines. He said around five cops, who were present on the spot when the incident took place, were also placed under suspension. He said Babba was also arrested by the police from the spot and raids were on to nab the remaining accomplices. Rajbir Kaur told the police that her husband Gurpartap Singh Raja had rented his shop situated in main bazaar in Azad Nagar to Gurnam Singh Pithi Wala. He was fitting iron grills for installing ice candy outside the shop when the accused reached the spot and objected to this. A verbal argument followed which turned ugly when Rimpy handed over a pistol to Babba asking him to kill Raja for settling the issue permanently. Babba fired several gun shots. Raja suffered two bullet injuries one the head leading to his death. Raja’s friends Rishi Chaudhry and Jaspreet Singh were also injured in the incident. Meanwhile, Babba was sent to three-day police custody. The family cremated Raja after an autopsy. Unsafe city: Elderly man City set to be divided into sectors assaulted twice in 15 days for streamlining sanitation work Tribune News Service Amritsar, June 12 Has the holy city become unsafe for its residents, especially elderly people? This is what an elderly man, Suresh Saggar (76) pic, feels. In the past fortnight, he was assaulted twice by unidentified bike-borne persons on the old octroi-Government polytechnic road when he was returning home from his factory situated in Chheharta industrial area. Ironically, he lodged a complaint with the Mahal police chowki when he was assaulted around 15 days ago, but the police did not bother about investigating or even lodge an FIR in the incident. Saggar, a resident of Akash Youth injured in celebratory firing Amritsar, June 12 A youth, identified as Pawandeep Singh of Panjwar village in Tarn Taran, was injured in celebratory firing in Ram Tirath road area here on Saturday. The police have booked two persons, Harman Singh of Rajasansi and Jimmy of Khushipur village. No arrest has been made till now. Hira Singh, a relative of the victim, told the police that Pawandeep’s friend Arshroop’s shagun ceremony was held at a marriage palace in Wadala Bhuttewad village. He said after the ceremony, Pawandeep and his friends went to Arshroop’s house. They were dancing on DJ in his house when Harman and Jimmy suddenly started celebratory firing. Pawandeep was attending a call on his phone when a bullet hit him on the chest. He was immediately rushed to hospital. A case has been registered. — TNS Avenue on the Fatehgarh Churina road, said when he was again returning home from his factory two bike-borne persons tried to intercept him near CIPET. He said he got alarmed as he was attacked in the same manner in the previous incident. He said he did not stop his car and tried to speed away. However, the accused hit something on his car due to which the glass of rear window was broken. He said when the accused started chasing him on their bike, he took a turn to the Kabir Park police chowki. He said the only cop present there expressed his inability to help or lodge a complaint. “Thereafter I approached the cantonment police station who also refused to register the complaint. Later, I registered a complaint to the police control room and told them about the incident. They asked him to approach the Khandwala police chowki,” he said. He said even though he was a senior citizen, he was being made to make rounds of the police station. “I am feeling threatened,” he said. Gurwinder Singh, SHO, Chheharta police station, said he would personally look into the matter. He said the perpetrators would not be spared. Tribune News Service Amritsar, June 12 The Amritsar Municipal Corporation (AMC) has decided to divide the city into sectors to improve sanitation and keep a check on the door-todoor garbage lifting properly. The chief sanitary inspectors and sanitary inspectors would keep a check on their respective sectors. Hardeep Singh, Joint Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, on Sunday held a meeting with officials of the Health wing, Operation and Maintenance (O&M) and Horticulture wings and asked to chalk out a plan to improve sanitation in the city. The MC has been getting regular complaints regarding the door-to-door collection of garbage. The company has not been lifting the garbage on a daily basis. There are some areas in the city where the company collects garbage twice in a week. The MC verified the vehicles of the company recently and found that the vehicles are not in a good condition to work efficiently. Around 60 vehicles out of the 342 are worn out and 45 are defunct. “After dividing the city into sectors, it would be easy to keep a check on the movement of the garbage collection vehicles of the solid waste management company. We will pro- vide separate numbers to the vehicles on every route. We are planning to streamline door-todoor collection by dividing the city into sectors. We need doorto-door collection of garbage every day without any miss. If the solid waste management company would not follow it, we will replace the firm,” said Hardeep Singh, a PCS. The Joint Commissioner also asked the officials of the Operation and Maintenance wing to provide water, treated at Sewerage Treatment Plants (STP), to the Horticulture Department for green belts, tress, gardens and central verges of roads. The departments concerned have been asked to submit a plan of sectors and arrangements till Monday evening. Door-to-door survey for Bidding fails: E-auction of delimitation begins today MC parking lots flops again Tribune News Service Amritsar, June 12 With the Municipal Corporation elections scheduled later this year, the work of delimitation of the city wards has started at the MC office here on Sunday. The door-to-door survey of the population would be started from tomorrow onwards. On the directions of the Local Bodies Department, officials and employees of the civic body started forming the block according to the city map for the delimitation. There are a total of 7,000 blocks constituted on the large city map by the MC employees. Hardeep Singh, Joint Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, said, “Around 7,000 blocks have been constituted On the directions of the Local Bodies Department, officials and employees of the civic body started forming the block according to the city map for the delimitation. There are a total of 7,000 blocks constituted on the large city map by the MC staff across the city. MC officials and employees have been deployed on the delimitation duties. The teams constituted by the MC would complete the survey of all the existing wards within 7 days.” The MC has prepared a data collection form for the survey. The survey form includes number of existing ward, c m y b number of block, house number, name of family members, age and cast. The teams would also provide block-wise statement to the MC in which the details of SC population, BC population and general population would be provided. The new wards would be reserved as per the block-wise data. After collection of data all the details would be uploaded on the computer simultaneously on the same day. Joint Commissioner Hardeep Singh said Assistant Town Planners, Head Draftsman, Draftsmen of the MC were working till late evening. They were marking blocks on the large map. The task would be completed on late Sunday evening and then the survey would be started from tomorrow onwards. Tribune News Service Amritsar, June 12 There are eight parking lots of the Amritsar Municipal Corporation, which have been lying unused for a long time as no contractor has shown interest in the bidding. As a result, the MC is incurring a huge financial loss. This time the MC had issued e-auction tenders by reducing the reserve price of all the parking lots last week. But due to lack of publicity of e-auction, seven parking lots fail to get any contractor this time again. In the e-auction held recently, only one parking lot at the old vegetable market got qualified as three contactors submitted the tender. Besides, only one person has shown interest in the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shopping Complex parking lot, one for the Municipal Corporation office at Ranjit Avenue, two contractors for Guru Nanak Bhawan City Centre. Meanwhile, no one filed tender for parking lots at the District Library, Rani ke Bagh, Telephone Exchange, New DTO office and Celebration Mall link road parking lot. According to the rules, for the first time, e-auction must be filled by three contractors then it would be qualified. Now the Municipal Corporation will again hold the e-auction tender. Within 14 days, the contractors will have to fill the tenders. This time the tender filled by a single contractor will be approved, said estate wing officials.