26072022-LT-01.qxd 26-07-2022 00:48 Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana TRIBUNE ONLINE DASHBOARD FOR STUDENTS OF PHARMACY COLLEGES LAUNCHED PAGE 2 The state board of technical education & industrial training launches online dashboard for pharmacy students. FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY INBRIEF THREE HELD FOR DRUG PEDDLING Ludhiana: The police have arrested two persons, Manjit Singh, a resident of Ladhowal, and Veer Singh of Bokan Dogran, while their accomplice, Rajwinder Singh, a resident of Company Bagh, Tibba Road, was booked under Sections 15, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act. The police said the trio, who were travelling in a truck (bearing registration no. PB 10HP 2322), were stopped at a naka near Transport Nagar. Search of the vehicle led to the recovery of 21 kg of poppy husk. The police were searching for Rajwinder. In another incident, Pardeeep Kumar, a resident of near Metro Tyre Factory, Dashmesh Market, Dhandari Khurd, was arrested from near Ganpati Chowk, Dhandari, with 2.1 kg of cannabis (ganja). A case has been registered.TNS THREE UNDERTRIALS BOOKED FOR ASSAULT Ludhiana: Three undertrials, Bobby, Gurdeep Singh and Jarnail Singh, lodged in Central Jail, here, along with their three unidentified accomplices, were booked by the police under Sections 323, 324, 341 and 34 of the IPC and the Prisons Act for allegedly assaulting two other undertrials, Abhishek Vidlan and Sahil Birla, with a sharp weapon during a scuffle which occurred between two groups at the jail on Saturday. Action was taken against the undertrials on the basis of a complaint lodged by Kuldeep Singh, Assistant Superintendent, Central Jail. TNS MANOJ BAJPAYEE TO PRESENT SECRETS OF THE KOHINOOR PAGE 3 Director Neeraj Pandey and Manoj Bajpayee reunite to enthral the audience with Secrets Of The Kohinoor. MAX 31°C | MIN 27°C | YESTERDAY MAX 33°C | MIN 27°C SUNSET TUESDAY 7:26 PM Move taken amid controversy over ‘fake’ names on employees’ lists Harshraj Singh Tribune News Service Councillors display a message seeking regularisation of all contractual employees; and (below) sanitation workers outside the MC’s Zone A office during the House meeting in Ludhiana. HIMANSHU MAHAJAN LIP COUNCILLOR ALLEGES FAKE RECRUITMENT IN HIS WARD Alleging fake recruitment of employees, LIP councillor from Ward 36 Harvinder Singh Kaler submitted a complaint to Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu on Monday, seeking a probe and action. Kaler said: “The names of a number of contractual safai karamcharis from Ward 36 are on the list for regularisation of jobs. But I have never seen many of them working in my ward since I became councillor in 2018. The names of around 21 unknown or fake persons from the ward are on the list. It should be checked who was withdrawing their salaries. It’s a scam of ~1 crore. A probe should be held and guilty must be punished.” inquiry and action against erring officials. Leader of the Opposition in the MC House Jaspal Singh Giaspura said no councillor was consulted before preparing the lists. Suspecting fake information in the lists, Giaspura said several councillors alleged that there were names of a number of unknown persons in the lists who were never seen working in their respective wards. Even after the death of two employees, their names had been added to the lists for regularisation of jobs, he said. One of the councillors alleged that there were 2,517 contractual employees in the lists that were presented with the previous resolution last year but now the number of contractual safai karamcharis and sewer men had been increased to 3,593 in the fresh lists presented before the MC House today. Councillor from Ward 67 Mamta Ashu said a committee was earlier formed by the then MC Commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal in December 2021 for verification of the contractual employees to be regularised. Two councillors — Dr Jai Prakash and Sunny Bhalla — were members of the committee but they were no continued on page 2 PAGE 4 Pathaan, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Deepika Padukone and John Abraham, is set to release on January 25, 2023. SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 5:40 AM MC House approves resolution to regularise jobs of contractual staff Ludhiana, July 25 Amid allegations of irregularities in lists prepared for the regularisation of jobs of contractual sewer men and sanitation workers, the Municipal Corporation (MC) House on Monday approved a resolution to regularise the services of the contractual employees. Several councillors alleged that there were a number of fake names on the lists. The House meeting, headed by Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu, was especially called to take a decision on the resolution regarding the regularisation of jobs of the contractual sewer men and safai karamcharis. After councillors from different parties created a ruckus over the lists during the House meeting at MC’s Zone A office today, Commissioner Shena Aggarwal announced that an inquiry would be conducted into the matter regarding the lists. The inquiry officer would submit a report within a week. Though the resolution to regularise the services of the contractual sewer men and safai karamcharis had been approved today, lists of contractual employees will be finalised later after verification, which will be done by a committee concerned. Alleging a scam in the preparation of the lists of 2,489 contractual safai karamcharis (working on DC rates) of the MC’s health branch and 1,104 temporary sewer men of the O&M branch for regularisation of jobs, several councillors during the meeting sought DEEPIKA PADUKONE HAS A FIERCE ROLE IN PATHAAN TUESDAY | 26 JULY 2022 | LUDHIANA Domestic help arrested for ~10-lakh theft from house Money recovered from accused’s native place in Bihar Our Correspondent Ludhiana, July 25 The police have arrested a domestic help, Raj Kumar, a migrant from Bihar, for committing a theft of cash amounting to around Rs 10 lakh and the DVR of CCTV cameras installed in the house of his employer on Mall Road here. On the basis of confession and information provided by the accused, the police have recovered Rs 10.32 lakh from native village of the accused Maheshpatti Kurwandha in Samstipur district of Bihar. According to the police, the accused was working in the house of Harkesh Mittal, who had reported to the police about the theft of the cash and the DVR on July 8. As HAS CONFESSED TO CRIME: COPS Accused Raj Kumar broke down during interrogation and confessed to the crime. He told the police that he had called his brother Ajay Kumar from Bihar to Ludhiana and had given the cash and the DVR to him outside the house of his employer. the police investigation in the case was on, Mittal lodged another complaint on July 20, stating that Raj Kumar, who was working at his house for the past 17 years, was the mastermind behind the theft as he had heard him speaking to his mother and brother about the money over telephone. Raj Kumar broke down during intensive interroga- tion and confessed to the crime. He reportedly told the police that he had called his brother Ajay Kumar from Bihar to Ludhiana and had given the cash and the DVR to him in a polythene bag outside the house of his employer. A special police party of the Police Division 8 was sent to the native village of the prime accused and Rs 10.32 lakh in cash was recovered from his parental house. Ajay Kumar, brother of the accused, who had come to Ludhiana and took away the stolen money to Bihar, had also been nominated as the co-accused and Section 34 of the IPC had been added to the FIR already registered in the case, police officials said. 45 more found infected in dist Tribune News Service Ludhiana, July 25 Fortyfive more persons tested positive for Covid while no loss of life was reported in the district on Monday. A total of 1,12,089 persons have tested positive and 2,999 patients have lost their lives to the deadly virus since March 2020 in the district. There were 312 active cases on Monday, of which 299 have been asked to isolate themselves in their homes by the Health Department while 13 are admitted to private hospitals. The recovery rate of Covid-19 patients has gone down to 97.05 per cent. A total of 37,89,796 sam- A boy gets jabbed against Covid in Ludhiana. INDERJEET VERMA COVID-19 FIGURES SAMPLES POSITIVE ACTIVE DEATHS 37,89,796 1,12,089 312 1 2,999 ples have been taken so far, of which 36,62,725 were found negative. Samples of 2,142 suspected patients were sent for testing today, the results of which are expected shortly. 35% allocated money spent, 55% work Man nabbed with stolen done to rejuvenate Buddha Nullah mobike, woman loses ~840-crore project’s deadline further extended to June next year Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Police officials address mediapsersons in Ludhiana. TRIBUNE PHOTO Scrap dealer nabbed for trading stolen items Our Correspondent Ludhiana, July 25 The city police claimed to have solved a case of theft in a forging unit, Sant Casting, on Sua Road here which occurred on the intervening night of July 10 and 11 with the arrest of two members of a gang of thieves on July 14 followed by that of a scrap dealer trading in stolen goods on July 22. While addressing mediapersons here today, Jyoti Yadav, ACP Industrial Area, B, said owner of the forging factory, Rajveer Singh, had lodged a report that two motorcycle-borne persons had broke open the lock of the main gate of the factory and had stolen a large quantity of silver and brass dies and on the basis of the complaint, a case under Sections 457 and 380 of the IPC was registered. She said a police party, headed by the SHO, Police Division 6, Madhu Bala, had nabbed two members of a gang of thieves, Vipan Tara and Sonu Shah, on July 14 and on the basis of information provided by the duo during interrogation, scrap dealer Manpreet Singh, alias Sanju Kabaria, a resident of Mohalla Dhokan, Near Baba Than Singh Chowk, was arrested on July 22. The police have recovered a part of the stolen material, including 58 pieces of metallic dies, from the scrap dealer. According to the the ACP , the scrap dealer had a criminal background and besides dealing in the stolen goods, he was facing 33 criminal cases of gambling, drug peddling, liquor smuggling, theft and attempt to murder. Further investigation in the case was on. Ludhiana, July 25 Almost 35 per cent of the total awarded amount has been spent to achieve around 55 per cent work to rejuvenate the highly-polluted Buddha Nullah, a seasonal tributary of the Sutlej, in Ludhiana, the government has confirmed. Since the ambitious Rs 840crore project had faced teething problems and had got adversely hit due to the Covid restrictions during the initial months last year, the deadline to complete the capital work has been further extended to June next year, the officials have said. Municipal Corporation (MC) Commissioner Shena Aggarwal, told The Tribune here on Monday that the rejuvenation project, aimed at giving a new lease of life to one of the most polluted nullahs, which runs almost parallel to the Sutlej through most of Ludhiana district, including 14-km in Ludhiana city, before merging with the Sutlej, had been taken up on a priority basis. She said the pace of the ongoing work on the project had been further expedited to cover up the initial delay, following which almost 55 per Work to rejuvenate the Buddha Nullah in progress. ASHWANI DHIMAN CMSPEAK The nomenclature Buddha Nullah will be replaced with the Buddha Dariya (river) after achieving zero discharge of sewage and effluents flowing into the Sutlej tributary since ages. The ongoing work will be completed at the earliest to ensure that only treated or fresh/storm water may flow into the Buddha Nullah. Bhagwant Mann, CHIEF MINISTER ❝ ❞ cent of the total work had already been completed. The development assumes significance as only 11 per cent progress was achieved in the first eight months till July 2021. After starting the work on December 2, 2020, and another 11 per cent work progress was achieved within the next three months from August till October 2021, while another 33 per cent work has been completed c m y b within the next less than nine months so far, which shows that the work on the project was being undertaken on a war footing. Divulging the operational progress of the project, MC Additional Commissioner, Aditya Dachalwal, said an amount of Rs 296.51 crore had already been spent on the project. While the project amount as per detailed project report (DPR) was Rs 650 crore, the work was awarded at Rs 839.79 crore. He said the total project cost included Rs 294 crore operation and maintenance cost for 10 years after completion while Rs 26.79 crore was earmarked as operation and maintenance cost for 21 months during the construction period. Though the ongoing work was yet to meet the target pace, the gap between the target and achievement had been narrowed down, which was likely to be met shortly. The work, which was awarded to a Mumbai-based joint venture group at the capital cost of Rs 519 crore besides the operation and maintenance cost of Rs 321 crore, was initially scheduled to be completed by December 1, 2022, but the deadline has been extended thrice from December 2022 to March 2023, then May 2023 and now June 30, 2023. Under the project, the scope of work included construction on two new sewage treatment plants (STPs) of 225 MLD and 60 MLD each at Jamalpur and Balloke, respectively, six new intermediate pumping stations (IPS) continued on page 2 cash, phones to snatcher Ludhiana, July 25 The police have arrested Prince Kumar, a resident of Bindra Colony, New Karabara, and have recovered a stolen Hero Splendor motorcycle (bearing registration no. PB 10FW 7821) from him. The accused has been booked under Sections 379 and 411 of the IPC. The police were investigating the theft of the motorcycle, which as per its owner, Munaf of Harvinder Nagar, was stolen from outside a dhaba on Kali Sarak here on July 21. The accused fell into the police net on the basis of a clue provided by the complainant. In another incident, A woman, Sunita Devi, a resident of Chauhala village, in Jammu district, lost her purse to a snatcher on Saturday evening from near Gill Guest House in the Civil Lines area. She said in a complaint lodged with the police that she was going to the guest house on foot around 9.15 pm on Saturday when a motorcycle-borne miscreant came from the rear and took away her purse and fled the spot. She said her purse contained Rs 1 lakh in cash and two mobile phones. The police have registered a case under Section 379-B of the IPC. Gold jewellery, smartwatch stolen from vehicle Thieves broke open the window of a Toyota Fortuner vehicle (bearing registration no. PB 10FK 0113) on Sunday and took away purse of a woman which contained three gold rings, a gold bangle, two pairs of earrings, a mobile phone, a smartwatch and some important documents. In a report lodged with the police, Gagandeep Singh of Model House said he, along with his wife, had gone to attend the cremation of his father-in-law at the Gau Ghat cremation ground after parking the vehicle outside the crematorium. “When we returned, the windowpane of the driver’s seat was found broken and purse of my wife was missing. The police have registered a case under Section 379 of the IPC. Scooter stolen A Honda Activa scooter (PB 10CT 6670) parked outside a house in Shaheed Karnail Singh Nagar, Phase III, was reported stolen on Sunday. A case has been registered. — OC