02082022-ATR-01.qxd 8/1/2022 11:48 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar TRIBUNE LABOURERS DEMAND 200 DAYS OF WORK, DAILY WAGE OF ~600 Workers of labour unions staged a dharna on NH-54. They submitted a memorandum to ADC (General). FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY SKY INBRIEF MEDICAL CAMP FOR SENIOR CITIZENS Amritsar: A medical camp to help physically disabled and elderly with artificial limbs, using wheelchairs, tricycles and other support items, was organised by the Ajnala SDM Office here on Monday. The camp was attended by 210 persons. Ajnala SDM Amanpreet Singh said elderly were given spectacles, hearing aids and walking sticks while the physically challenged were given tricycles, wheelchairs, walkers and other items as per their need. The SDM said those who needed artificial limbs were also examined and would be provided the same within next few days. TNS 32-YR-OLD DIES OF DRUG OVERDOSE Tarn Taran: A 32-year-old man died of drug overdose at Bhai Ladhu Kalan village on Sunday. The deceased has been identified as Gursahib Singh. The police have booked Jodha Singh of the same village under Section 304 of the Indian Penal Code for Gursahib Singh’s death. Jodha Singh is a peddler, who supplied drugs to addicts in the area. Jajbir Singh, elder brother of the deceased, said Gursahib Singh had been taking drugs for the past one year. He said Gursahib Singh was taken to the village cremation ground by Jodha Singh on Sunday where he gave him an intoxicant injection, following which Gursahib Singh died. Jodha Singh took the body to his residence and fled the spot. OC DIAGNOSTIC LAB AT GURDWARA Amritsar: Dubai-based philanthropist Dr SPS Oberoi's Sarbat Da Bhala Trust today inaugurated a lab and diagnostic for the poor at a gurdwara on the Circular Road here. Cabinet Minister Inderbir Singh Nijjar and other officials of the Government Medical College were present on the occasion. Dr Oberoi said the trust had so far opened 70 laboratories in various parts of the country and around 50,000 people are daily getting the benefit from the same. He added that another laboratory would be opened in the Amritsar South soon. TNS PAGE 2 THREE PUNJABI FILMS TO HAVE AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE AT IFFM PAGE 3 Three Punjabi films have been selected for a special screening at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2022. MAX 34°C | MIN 25°C | YESTERDAY MAX 30°C | MIN 25°C SUNSET TUESDAY 7:26 PM SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 5:47 AM Says will set up skill development centres in Ludhiana, Jalandhar & Sangrur Tribune News Service Rajya Sabha MP Vikramjit Singh Sahney pays obeisance at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on Monday. TRIBUNE PHOTO tres in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Sangrur for which work is at an advanced stage. The Punjabi youth are being given absolutely free training in over 15 skills To tide over staff shortage, admn starts recruiting retired patwaris Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 1 The decision of the Patwar Union that patwaris will not do additional work forced the government to re-hire retired patwaris. There is an acute shortage of patwaris in the district as a little over 150 are available, while the district requires around 600. However, the decision of the government to re-employ retired employees has not gone down well with the people, especially youth. They want the government to adopt a legislation to prohibit any Residents flay move kind of recruitment of retired persons, who earn dual pay as pension and emoluments from the government. Paramjit Singh, a qualified engineer, said: “When the government knows that a major chunk of population in the state falls in the age group of 20 to 35, efforts must be directed to create more job avenues. Any move to deny them jobs must be discouraged.” Deputy Commissioner Harpreet Singh Sudan said he passed the orders to recruit retired patwaris following the directions received from the government. He said keeping in view the acute shortage of patwaris and the decision of the union, the Cabinet was constrained to pass this order. Moreover, the complex nature of this revenue department’s post requires new recruits to undergo nine months of training before joining the office. Meanwhile, an old hand can do wonders in providing service to people who are complaining of ordeal due to insufficient staff. ranging from fitter, CNC operator, solar panel technician, AC and refrigeration mechanic, electrician, painting and denting, agriculture employment technician, graphic designing, day healthcare workers, textile and phulkari designers, data entry operators and various other courses. Meanwhile, Sahney also reviewed the progress of Swami Vivekananda Drug De-Addiction and Rehabilitation Centre supported by Sun Foundation for rehabilitation of addicts and making them self-reliant. “I desire that with the support of local administration and police we will be able to rehabilitate and skill more youth at this centre in Amritsar where currently 100 youth are being rehabilitated and skills are being provided to them,” he added. increasing and there was a need to take precautions. With an average of over 20 positive cases daily, the active cases in the district have reached 184. The officials claimed that though the number of cases being reported was high, a large number of the patients are experiencing mild symptoms only. The district has reported a total of 60,239 positive cases and 1,843 deaths due to the disease since the start of the pandemic. Civil Surgeon Dr Charanjit Singh said testing has been increased in the recent weeks. He added that over TUESDAY | 2 AUGUST 2022 | AMRITSAR Will popularise Sanskrit during my tenure: Laxmi Kanta Chawla Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 1 Newly elected president of the Durgiana Committee Laxmi Kanta Chawla has announced that she will popularise Sanskrit during her tenure. She is the first-ever female head of the committee that also runs a Sankrit institute and an Ayurvedic college. A Cabinet minister in the erstwhile Parkash Singh Badal government, she said, “I had vowed to fight the election to the temple committee the day when members of the committee had stated that a woman cannot head the religious body as per the norms of the Sanatan Dharma. They forget that we also pray to goddesses in this ancient religion.” During her public career spanning nearly five decades, she led campaigns against bride burning, undertook underground activities on behalf of the sangh during the Emergency period, worked for empowering women and drug de-addiction in slum and under-devel- Rain rider Was recently elected president of Durgiana Committee I had vowed to fight ❝election to the temple the committee the day when committee members had said a woman cannot head a religious body as per the norms of the Sanatan Dharma ❞ Laxmi Kanta Chawla op areas of the city. She had entered the public life as a worker of the ABVP and Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Honesty and simplicity have been her twin pillars ever since she first became a councillor in 1972. She had lost her maiden election by 218 votes. During her three terms as an MLA, she chose to stay at MLA Hostel rather than a flat. She bid adieu to active politics in 2012. Her simplicity and claim of never spending money in elections except depositing security fee earned her goodwill of people. She is a rare politician who is someone difficult to fit into any slot. She knows Punjabi, but does not use it officially. She does not hold back to criticise, even her party leaders. A teacher in BBK DAV College in Amritsar, a job from which she took leave from 1992 to 2000, before retiring in 2001, she had both the RSS as well as Leftist influences in the beginning of her career. Communal clashes during the Partition had left an impact on her family, which moved towards the RSS. She had a deep impact of sangh ideology in her growing years. She was exposed to the communist ideology while studying from eminent Communist leader Vimla Dang in her school days. Another city doctor gets extortion call Tribune News Service A motorcyclist braves a sudden downpour in Amritsar on Monday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR Covid cases on the rise, 660 test positive in July alone Amritsar, August 1 Covid cases continued to show an upward trend with the district witnessing 660 positive cases in July. The district also reported one death due to the disease in the last month. The district health officials stated that the number of cases was continuously PAGE 4 Actress Priya Prakash Varrier has been chosen as the face for a cybercrime awareness campaign. My endeavour is to make youth self-reliant: Sahney Amritsar, August 1 Newly elected Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab Vikramjit Singh Sahney today said hundreds of youth in Amritsar would be provided jobs in various sectors. These youths have been trained at a multi-skill development centre, Amritsar, being run by Sahney’s NGO Sun Foundation. They were trained in hospitality, IT, healthcare, field sales executives, auto and engineering. He also paid obeisance at the Golden Temple. Sahney has requested Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to spare time to hand over placement letters to them to encourage them. He also announced that he would set up more worldclass skill development cen- PRIYA PRAKASH VARRIER JOINS FIGHT AGAINST CYBERCRIME 2,000 samples were being collected and tested daily. He said people must report to a physician in case they experience any symptom associated with the viral disease and get them tested. “Isolation oneself from other healthy members of the family is the best way to contain the spread of the dis- ease,” he added. The Civil Surgeon added that though the number of cases has increased, but so far no clusters have been reported. A cluster is five or more positive cases reported from a single area. He added that the cases were evenly distributed in rural and urban areas. — TNS Amritsar, August 1 A day after a doctor got an extortion call allegedly by gangsters, another doctor has lodged a complaint with the city police about getting threat and extortion call from gangsters. Dr Rajnish Kumar, a resident of Greenfield locality on Majitha Road, stated to the police that on July 29, he got a WhatsApp call from number +14256064366. He identified himself as Vicky Brar, a member of Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar gang. He asked him to transfer Rs 6 lakh in his account. He threatened the victim that if he failed to transfer the amount, he would face the same fate as Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala. He said he blocked the number. He alleged he again received a call this time from +14253316409. The caller threatened him and asked him to transfer the money into an SBI account. Following the complaint, the Sadar police station registered a case under Section ~6 LAKH SOUGHT ■ The caller identified himself as Vicky Brar, a member of Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar gang ■ The accused asked the doctor to transfer ~6 lakh in his account ■ He threatened the victim that if he failed to transfer the amount, he would face the same fate as singer Sidhu Moosewala 387 and 506 of the IPC against unidentified persons. A day before yesterday, another doctor Dr Mannan Anand had filed a police complaint about getting extortion call from Canada. They sought Rs 5 lakh. Following the brutal killing of Moosewala, there has been a spurt in the number of extortion calls. Deputy Commissioner of Police (investigations) Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar said the probe was in progress in this regard and the accused would be identified and arrested soon. Villagers forcibly free youth from police custody Retelling stories of courage, attack on Komagata Maru Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 1 Residents of Chavinda Devi village falling under the Kathunangal Police Station barged into the Chavinda Devi Police Chowki and got a youth released from the police custody. The youth, identified as Akashdeep Singh, was arrested by the police for allegedly possessing 9-gm heroin. A case was registered against him, following which he was arrested. However, family members and residents of the area reached there and demand- Was arrested with 9-gm heroin ed his release. They said Akashdeep was hooked to drugs but was not a drug peddler as being alleged by the police. There were just four police personnel at the chowki at that time. Family members of the accused and villagers forcibly got him released from the police custody. Deputy Superintendent of Police Manmohan Singh reached the spot and said investigations were under progress. Kewal Dhaliwal presents play at Azadi edition of Bharat Rang Mahotav Amritsar, August 1 Based on the Komagata Maru incident, Kewal Dhaliwal presented a play at the Azadi edition of the Bharat Rang Mahotav being hosted at the art gallery. The motivation behind creating a stage adaptation of Komagata Maru was to tell the tale of martyrs, who lost their lives protecting the countrymen against the British brutality and unprovoked violence. On March 25 in 1914, Komagata Maru, a Japanese ship, carrying 376 passengers seeking asylum landed Artistes enact a scene during Bharat Rang Mahotsav in Amritsar on Monday. PHOTO: SUNIL KUMAR in Vancouver. Among the passengers were Punjabis and since Canada and India c m y b were both British colonies at the time, the ship was docked at the coast and pas- sengers were denied entry into the country by the British Government. After two months of waiting, only 26 of them were allowed to get off, while the rest were ordered to go back to Calcutta. The situation was already alarming at Vancouver between the British and Indians. The British soldiers opened fire at the ship, killing several in the ensuing riots. Dhaliwal directed the saga through the perspective of the passengers sailing in that ship. “The operation of Komagata Maru has become an inseparable part of history of Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had rendered an official apology, decades later, for the unfortunate incident. But the stories of those who lost their lives are important to tell for current generation,” said Dhaliwal. He also designed the set, light and sound for the play to recreate the ship on stage. Dhaliwal is a graduate from the National School of Drama, New Delhi, with specialisation in design and direction. Komagata Maru had been previously staged at several theatre festivals and special shows of the play were also staged at the 100th anniversary of the incident. The protagonist of the play, Gurdit Singh, who was born in Sarhali, Amritsar, was among the martyrs of Komagata Maru. Leading the counter on the stealth attack by the British Police on the ship, Gurdit Singh and his compatriots repulsed the attack, losing their lives in the aftermath. The play was staged by artistes of Manch Rangmanch and received a standing ovation.