16072022-LT-01.qxd 7/16/2022 12:45 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana TRIBUNE DSR TECHNIQUE RECEIVES TEPID RESPONSE IN DIST Of the 36,240-hectare target area, only 2,797 hectares covered under direct seeding of rice. FORECAST GENERALLY CLOUDY Five held with opium, ~25K drug money PAGE 2 KARANVIR & DEBATTAMA SAHA REUNITE FOR MUBARAK HO PAGE 3 Karanvir Sharma and Debattama Saha, who treated fans with two music videos, reunite for Mubarak Ho. MAX 35°C | MIN 26°C | YESTERDAY MAX 33°C | MIN 26°C SUNSET SATURDAY 7:36 PM SUNRISE SUNDAY 5:34 AM Process to regularise sanitation workers started, says minister Our Correspondent Tribune News Service POWER SHUTDOWN LUDHIANA 10 am to 6 pm: Industrial Area-A, Ghora Road up to Link Road and surrounding areas. Ludhiana, July 15 Punjab Local Bodies Minister Inderbir Singh Nijjar on Friday said the process of regularising the services of sanitation workers and sewer men has been initiated by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government in the state, while asserting that appointment letters would be handed over to them in the next few days. Making an announcement outside the MC Zone-A office, where Sewer Men and Safai Karamchari Sangharsh Committee ended its hunger strike after having juice from the hands of the minister, Dr Nijjar said there was an anomaly in the earlier resolution passed by the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation, which was the main hurdle in regularising their services. He said directions had already been issued to the MCL to expedite the process of passing a fresh resolution in this regard during the next House meeting following Local Bodies Minister Inderbir Singh Nijjar offers juice to protesting MC workers to end their fast in Ludhiana on Friday. INDERJEET VERMA ABOUT E-REHRA PROJECT The Rs 9.36-crore e-Rehra project for collecting garbage door to door in all 95 wards of the city was launched by flagging off vehicles. The 350 erehras will have wet and dry waste compartments, which would pave the way for segregation of waste. Charging points are being installed zone wise to ensure uninterrupted plying of the vehicles. which the state government would complete all formalities. He also appreciated MLAs Rajinderpal Kaur Chhina, Gurpreet Gogi, Madan Lal Bagga, Ashok Parashar Pappi, Kulwant Singh Sidhu and Hardeep Singh Mundian for their persistent efforts in taking up the issue of safai sewaks and sewer men. Dr Nijjar said regularisation was the right of sanitation and sewer workers and it would be ensured to them at all costs. He said the AAP government stood rock solid with them, and for that matter, all employees, always, and every required step would be taken for their welfare. Two peddlers land in STF net; 650 gm heroin seized Tribune News Service Ludhiana, July 15 The special task force (STF) wing of Ludhiana nabbed two persons and recovered 650 gm of heroin from their possession. The suspects have been identified as Ajay Pal Singh (34), a resident of Kot Mangal Singh, and Rajat Arora (50) of Nanak Enclave. STF inspector Harbans Singh said a tip-off was received that the suspects, who were into the notorious trade for long, were going to deliver a huge consignment of heroin to their clients today in their Honda City car. Accordingly, the STF team laid a naka and stopped the car for checking. During the search, 650 gm of heroin was seized from the vehicle. During questioning, Ajay said he was a farmer by profession and was already facing four cases of drug smuggling. Rajat said he was a transporter and he was also facing six cases of drug and liquor smuggling registered in the past. STF Inspector said now, a police remand of the accused would be sought to nab big suppliers of heroin involved in the racket. Now, LIT Executive Officer’s aide ‘managing’ her illegal money held Three Improvement Trust officials nabbed earlier remanded in police custody Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, July 15 After the yesterday’s raid at the Ludhiana Improvement Trust by the Vigilance Bureau (economic offence wing) which had led to the arrest of LIT’s junior assistant Harmit Singh, Executive Officer (EO) Kuljit Kaur and clerk Parveen Kumar, the Vigilance on Friday also nabbed a property dealer, Gurmel Singh, alias Pamma. Pamma is a neighbour of EO Kuljit. Pamma was arrested on the revelation of EO Kuljit Kaur. He reportedly used to manage the EO’s illegal money. Pamma has also reportedly helped the EO in buying properties. Sources said now, the Vigilance had started scanning bank accounts of the nabbed suspects, especially the EO, and even properties amassed by them are also being checked. The Vigilance today pro- LIT EO Kuljit Kaur being taken to the Civil Hospital for a medical examination by the Vigilance Bureau in Ludhiana on Friday. duced the three suspects, Kuljit, Parveen and Harmit, in a court which remanded them in two-day police custody. The Vigilance sought remand on the ground that the three officials of the LIT needed to be questioned to verify illegal practices they were resorting to while working in the government department. Talking to The Tribune, SSP (Vigilance) Surendra Lamba said the EO in her questioning revealed that property dealer Pamma was the one who used to keep her illegal money and he also helped her in buying property with illegal proceeds. “We will question all four suspects in detail and their questioning may unveil more illegal practices they were into. Property details of the suspects are also being verified and further action will be taken accordingly in the case,” the SSP said. Complainant Satnam Singh had lodged a complaint with the Vigilance Bureau that Harmit Singh, junior assistant, LIT, was demanding Rs 20,000 for processing and finalising his case of ‘one-time settlement’ of default payment of booth alloted to him by the LIT in Rajguru Nagar. In the presence of the EO, the Vigilance had caught Harmit red handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000. Clerk Parveen had fled during the raid but he was also arrested on Thursday. On July 7, Vigilance Bureau (EOW) had nabbed Paramjit Singh RA, in PSPCL Lakhowal, for accepting Rs 10,000 bribe. On July 6, fake deed writer Surinderpal, his associate Ajinder was arrested for accepting Rs 8,000 bribe. c m y b Later, the Local Bodies Minister, along with MLAs, flagged off 10 modernised and advanced fire tenders at the local fire brigade station near the railway station. He said an amount of Rs 6.44 crore had been spent on these hi-tech vehicles to strengthen the firefighting capacity in the city, adding that it would be instrumental in saving precious lives and properties of the people during fire incidents. Later, Dr Nijjar launched an e-Rehra project of Rs 9.36 crore for collecting garbage door to door in all 95 wards of the city by flagging off the vehicles. He said the 350 erehras would have wet and dry waste compartments, which would pave the way for segregation of waste. He said charging points were being installed zone wise to ensure uninterrupted plying of the e-Rehras. Deputy Commissioner Surabhi Malik, Commissioner of Police Kaustabh Sharma, MC Commissioner Shena Aggarwal, officials of the civil and police administration were among those others present. 62 positive, one succumbs in district Tribune News Service Ludhiana, July 15 One person from Ludhiana district lost his life to Covid while 62 tested positive for the virus on Friday. Active cases crossed the 200 mark and there were a total of 223 active cases today. A total of 1,10,920 persons have tested positive and 2,296 patients have lost their lives to the deadly virus since March 30 in the district. There were 223 active cases on Friday, of which 217 have been asked to isolate themselves in their homes while the remaining patients are admitted to private hospitals. The recovery rate of Covid patients has gone down to 97.73 per cent. Till date, a total of 37,54,386 samples have been taken, of which 36,28,557 were found negative. Samples of 3,929 suspected patients were sent for testing today, the results of which are expected shortly. BA.5 strain found A total of 32 samples of Covid positive patients were recently sent for genome sequencing by the Health Department. Of the total 32 samples sent, four have turn out to be of BA.5 strain, the dominant omicron subvariant. The department has got the follow-up of the patients done and visited all the four patients. All the patients are in good health and nothing serious have been found. While the remaining samples were detected of Omicron 2 variant. The BA.5 strain is spreading fast but it appears to be less severe as compared to earlier variants. COVID-19 FIGURES SAMPLES POSITIVE ACTIVE DEATHS PAGE 4 Looks like Miss Universe 1994 has found her Mr Right! IPL ex-chairman Lalit Modi shares romantic pictures with Sushmita. Flags off 10 advanced fire tenders, launches e-Rehra project for waste collection Ludhiana, July 15 The city police today arrested five smugglers and recovered 3.5 kg of opium and Rs 25,000 drug money from their possession in separate incidents. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Investigation) Varinder Singh Brar said anti-narcotic in-charge inspector Satwant Singh had got a tip-off that four persons — Jatinder Singh, Avtar Singh, Inder Singh, all residents of Madhya Pradesh, and Davinder Singh of Ajit Singh Nagar — were on the way to deliver a huge quantity of opium. Accordingly, the police laid a naka at a strategic spot where a Datsun car (bearing registration no. MP44CA 8075) was stopped for checking. During the search, 3 kg of opium along with Rs 25,000 drug money was seized from the vehicle. The suspects were going to deliver a consignment of narcotics to his clients. Brar said SI Yogeshwar Sharma nabbed Manpreet Singh, alias Bablu, from the Middha chowk and seized 500 gm of opium from his possession. The DCP said cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act were registered in both incidents and further questioning of the suspects was on to bust the entire drug supply chain. LALIT MODI SHARES ROMANTIC PICTURES WITH SUSHMITA SEN 37,54,386 1,10,920 223 41 2,296 SATURDAY | 16 JULY 2022 | LUDHIANA Woman strangles 5-yr-old child to death, arrested Ludhiana, July 15 A woman, Babita Rani, strangled her five-year-old son Biraj to death at her residence in Bhanohar village in Mullanpur Dakha. The incident came to the fore on Thursday when the child’s body was recovered from the village pond. After committing the murder, the woman put the child’s body in a sack and threw it into the village pond. On Wednesday when the news about the mysterious disappearance of the child spread in the village, residents started searching for the child. Interestingly, to prevent villagers from suspecting her role behind the murder, the woman also accompanied the residents in the search. When the residents were checking CCTV cameras, they saw a footage of the woman. She was going towards the MYSTERY SHROUDS DEATH OF THREE SIBLINGS The suspect’s husband, Shyam Lal, who is a gardener, is a native of Uttar Pradesh. He said three of his children had also died under mysterious circumstances in the past and it could be possible that his wife might had murdered them the way she had killed Biraj. pond while carrying a sack on her head. The residents suspecting body in the Biraj, the victim sack, questioned the woman and asked about her role behind the disappearance of Biraj. Initially, she did not reveal anything but when they asked her again, she confessed that she had strangled her son to death and his body was thrown into the pond. The suspect’s husband, Shyam Lal, who is a gardener, is a native of Uttar Pradesh. He said three of his children had also died under mysterious circumstances in the past and it could be possible that his wife might had murdered them the way she had killed Biraj. Dakha SHO inspector Ajitpal Singh said on the complaint of the suspect’s husband, Shyam Lal, a murder case was registered against Babita. Later, she was also arrested. While talking about the past three mysterious deaths of their children, the SHO said the woman was being questioned and nothing could be said now. She was also being asked about the reason of committing the brutal act.” —TNS 3 notorious criminals held with arms Trio, other gangsters were planning to commit a major dacoity Tribune News Service Ludhiana, July 15 The CIA wing of the city police today nabbed three notorious criminals and seized an illegal weapon along with cartridges from them. The accused have been identified as Taranpreet Singh Billa Bori (22), a resident of the CMC road area, Dhananjay, alias Deep (23), of New Puneet Nagar and Neeraj Kumar (23) of the Tibba road area. The police recovered a country made .32 bore pistol and four live cartridges, two sharp weapons, a motorcycle and a scooter from the açcused. Commissioner of Police (CP) Kaustubh Sharma in a statement issued said a tipoff was received by CIA inspector Rajesh Kumar that the accused were accomplices of B category gangster Pankaj Rajput and they were planning to commit a major dacoity in the city. Accordingly, the CIA team conducted a raid and nabbed the accused from the Jagirpur road, the CP said, adding that with the arrest of the accused, the police averted a major dacoity which they had planned to commit in some financial institution in the city. Key gangster Pankaj Rajput and Raman Rajput had managed to give a slip to the police and now raids were being conducted to nab them. DCP (Investigation) Varinder Singh Brar said gangster Pankaj was a B category gangster who was already facing over 12 cases, including of murder and attempt to murder. Even the three accused nabbed by the police were also wanted by the police in various criminal cases, including kidnapping, rape and attempt to murder.