02082022-LT-01.qxd 8/2/2022 12:50 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana TRIBUNE ONLY ONE SECURITY GUARD AT MOTHER AND CHILD HOSPITAL PAGE 2 The single security guard on duty has been deployed at the main gate of the Mother and Child Hospital. FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY INBRIEF FOUR NABBED FOR SMUGGLING LIQUOR Ludhiana: The police have arrested three persons for smuggling liquor from different places in the city on Sunday and have made recovery of huge quantity of countrymade and foreign liquor. Kamlesh Kumar of Ramgarh was nabbed from near the Ramgarh T-point on Ludhiana-Chandigarh Road and 58 cases (696 bottles) of countrymade liquor were seized from him. One of his accomplices, Om Parkash, a resident of New Sarpanch Colony, was absconding. Rajesh Kumar of Gobind Nagar, Shimplapuri, was arrested from Tedhi Road, Shimlapuri, and 27 bottles of countrymade liquor were seized from him. Jagmohan Singh, a resident of Janta Nagar, was arrested from Janta Nagar with 12 bottles of Fine whisky. In another successful catch, the police stopped a Maruti Swift Dzire car (bearing registration no. PB 91H 9816) at the Tibba Colony cut. Search of the car led to the seizure of 12 bottles of Imperial Blue whisky, 96 pints of countrymade liquor and 24 bottles of 555 whisky. The police have arrested the occupant of the car, Bikramjit Singh, alias Vicky, of Ramgarh. All accused have been booked under the Excise Act. OC MAN ARRESTED WITH PISTOL Ludhiana: The police have arrested Shivam Kumar, a resident of Ram Nagar, Bhamian Kalan, from 33 Feet Road, Jamalpur, on Sunday and recovered a countrymade pistol and two live rounds. The accused has been booked under Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act. OC ONE BOOKED FOR ABDUCTING GIRL Ludhiana: A 20-year old girl, a resident of Janta Colony, was reported missing since July 28. In a complaint filed with the police, the father of the girl said his daughter went to college on July 28 and did not return since then. He suspects that Gurbksh Singh of Geera Colony, Khatra, might be involved in the abduction of the girl. The police have booked the suspect. TNS PRIYA PRAKASH VARRIER JOINS FIGHT AGAINST CYBERCRIME PAGE 3 THREE PUNJABI FILMS TO HAVE AUSTRALIAN PREMIERE AT IFFM Actress Priya Prakash Varrier has been chosen as the face for a cybercrime awareness campaign. MAX 33°C | MIN 25°C | YESTERDAY MAX 32°C | MIN 26°C SUNSET TUESDAY 7:21 PM Three Punjabi films have been selected for a special screening at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2022. SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 5:44 AM TUESDAY | 2 AUGUST 2022 | LUDHIANA Durga Colony residents forced Plot allotment scam: Former LIT trustees too under VB lens to drink sewage-laced water Our Correspondent Harshraj Singh Tribune News Service Ludhiana, August 1 In Durga Colony of Ward 28, residents are forced to live under hellish conditions due to overflowing sewers and contaminated water supply. When the rain lashed the city on Saturday, the sewage water (due to overflowing sewers) started receding into the water tube-well bore on Durga Colony Road, contaminating the freshwater, residents said. Residents slammed the Municipal Corporation and the state government for turning a blind eye towards the poor sewerage system and contaminated water supply that pose a threat of water-borne diseases such as gastroenteritis, diarrhoea, cholera and typhoid. A resident of Durga Colony, near Dhandari Khurd, Mohammad Shahzad, said the overflowing of sewers was a major problem in their area and nearby areas of Dhandari Khurd for a long time but nothing had been done by the authorities to get the issue resolved. “The condition turned worse during the rainy season here as sewers overflowed badly. When it rained on Saturday, sewage was flowing into the tubewell bore too and such a situation is witnessed almost every Sewage accumulates at the tube-well site on the Durga Colony road in Ludhiana. TRIBUNE PHOTO MC, GOVT FLAYED FOR IGNORING ISSUES Residents slammed the Municipal Corporation and the state government for turning a blind eye towards the poor sewerage system and contaminated water supply that pose a threat of water-borne diseases. time, whenever it rains. People are forced to drink contaminated water,” he said. He said: “A woman recently died of jaundice due to the contaminated water supply. Moreover, the road outside her house had been flooded with sewage for the past two years.” Another resident said the people had earlier complained to the government, Local Bodies Department and MC Woman stabbed to death by husband Ludhiana, August 1 Persistent marital dispute and domestic violence cost a 36-year old woman, Zareen, her life as her husband Museen (25) attacked her this morning with a kitchen knife. The victim bled to death due to the stab wound in a major blood vessel. The police said the assailant, who was in the process of escaping from the crime spot, was arrested on the spot and the murder weapon (the kitchen knife) was also seized. The accused has been booked under Section 302 of the IPC and further probe was on. Model Town SHO Jaswinder Singh said the deceased, a resident of Harnam Nagar, here, worked at a beauty parlour and the victim’s husband was suspicious about her character as she had to often go out to visit her clients. “The accused, who mainly remained away for some work and was also a drunkard, often indulged in violent attacks on his wife (second marriage for Zareen),” the police official said. The post-mortem examination will be conducted on Tuesday. — OC authorities many times but the problem was not resolved till date. He said the AAP government must take concrete steps for early redressal of sewerage and water supplyrelated problems. On the other hand, MC’s Superintending Engineer Rajinder Singh said: “Required measures have been taken to stop the flow of dirty water into the water tube well bore. The issue has been resolved.” Regarding the overflowing sewers, a disposal unit will be made operational soon to resolve the issue, he said. Ludhiana, August 1 After arrests of Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) Executive Officer Kuljinder Kaur, PA to the Chairman Sandeep Sharma and some other officials and employees by the Vigilance Bureau (VB) in a case of corruption, subsequent interrogation of the arrested LIT officials and employees has revealed the dubious role of some former trustees, appointed by the erstwhile Congress government. Though sleuths of the VB claimed that interrogation of arrested LIT officials and clerk was at a preliminary stage and they were being produced in the court today again to seek extension of their police custody, sources revealed that in the matter related to some six residen- tial plots in the locally displaced persons (LDP) category, names of some erstwhile trustees had also figured and the VB might summon them soon for questioning and follow-up action, if warranted. It is a statutory requirement that for any allotment of residential plot or commercial site made by the LIT under any category, a resolution had to be adopted in the Trust meeting (in the presence of trustees), which was later sent to the government for approval. The VB officials had reportedly learnt during the interrogation of the Executive Officer and staff members of the LIT that the trustees had sought favours from the then chairman Raman Balasubramanium in lieu of their consent given for the allotment of LDP plots for which the then chairman and other officials were said to have taken huge bribes. Residents wait for MLA’s attention 31 more contract virus in dist Residents also raised questions over the role of AAP MLA Hardeep Singh Mundian for allegedly not visiting the spot to pay any heed to problems being faced by them. Sahnewal MLA Hardeep Singh Mundian did not respond to phone calls and text message. Ludhiana, August 1 Thirtyone more persons tested positive for Covid-19 in the district on Monday. A total of 1,12,475 persons have tested positive in the district and 3,003 patients have lost their lives to the deadly virus since March 2020 in the district. Tribune News Service Ludhiana, August 1 Two days after a big portion of Sua Road caved in at Passi Nagar, the Municipal Corporation found that an old brick sewer line (also called ‘dat’ sewer) is passing beneath the stretch. The sewer line was found damaged. It was yet to be ascertained as to why the bricklined sewer got damaged, resulting in the cave-in. On Monday, MC’s Additional Commissioner Rishipal Singh, along with officials of the O&M branch, visited the cave-in site at Passi Nagar. Rishipal Our Correspondent COVID-19 FIGURES SAMPLES POSITIVE ACTIVE DEATHS 38,14,054 1,12,475 311 37 3,003 There were 311 active cases on Monday, of which 288 It was a narrow escape for commuters when a portion of Sua Road suddenly caved in at Passi Nagar on Saturday morning. FILE Singh said it came to light that a brick sewer line had got damaged at Passi Nagar wherein a road portion had caved in. He said the exact reason behind the damaged sewer line was yet to be known. Instructions had been given to the officials to ensure the repair of the damaged sewer line on a priority basis. Notably, it was a narrow escape for commuters when a portion of Sua Road had suddenly caved in at Passi Nagar, near Shaheed Karnail Singh Nagar, on Saturday morning. The pit was said to be over 15-ft- long and about 10-15-ft-deep. ASI caught taking ~7K bribe Ludhiana, August 1 During its ongoing drive against corruption, the Vigilance Bureau (VB) nabbed ASI Avtar Singh, posted as naib court in the Court Complex, Samrala, while accepting a bribe of Rs 7,000. Disclosing this here today, a spokesman for the Punjab Vigilance Bureau said ASI Avtar Singh had been arrested on the complaint of Sandeep Kumar of Gianpura in Uttar Pradesh, now residing in Nagra Colony, Macchiwara. He said the complainant had intimated the VB office here that an accident case was pending in the court against him and in this regard, a compromise had been affected between the parties. He, however, alleged that naib court Avtar Singh was demanding Rs 20,000 in the name of the assistant public prosecutor for recording his statement in the court to execute the compromise but the deal was struck at Rs 7,000. The spokesperson added that after verification of facts in the complaint, a VB team caught naib court Avtar Singh red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 7,000 from the complainant at the Judicial Complex, Samrala, in the presence of two official witnesses. In this regard, an FIR under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered at the VB police station, Ludhiana, on Monday and further probe was under progress. have been asked to isolate themselves in their homes while 23 are admitted to private hospitals. The recovery rate of Covid patients has gone down to 97.05 per cent. Samples of 2,298 suspected patients were sent for testing today. — TNS Ludhiana, August 1 The police have arrested four thieves and made recovery of seven motorcycles and a stolen submersible pump. Two vehicle thieves, Shivam, a resident of Majara village, near Sahnewal, and Ansh Kumar of Prem Colony, Sahnewal, were arrested on Sunday on Sua Road. They were coming from the Majara side and going towards Sahnewal. On the basis of information provided by the accused, seven stolen motorcycles, some with fake registration number plates, were recovered. The duo has been booked under Sections 379, 411 and 473 of the IPC. Ram Gopal, a resident of Saloh village in Nawanshahr district, and Baggi of Gagandeep Colony were arrested continued on page 2 c m y b After two school students (siblings) riding a twowheeler had fallen into a deep pit at Deep Nagar on October 21 last year, the MC had found that its old brick sewer line had got damaged due to which the road portion had caved in. MC officials had then announced to carry out a survey to check old brick sewer lines but nothing was done. Around seven years ago, the then MC Commissioner had also written to the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board to inspect the old brick sewer lines but no survey was done in this regard so far. MC must recruit own staff for running parking lots in city, NGO writes to CM Harshraj Singh ASI Avtar Singh in Vigilance Bureau custody in Ludhiana on Monday. TRIBUNE PHOTO It was further learnt that accusing fingers were also pointed by LIT officials under VB custody at certain senior officials of the Local Government, Punjab, posted at Chandigarh in the matter of allotment of plots under the LDP category, some other dubious decisions taken by the former chairman such as carving out residential plots in the green belt, change of land use of land reserved for school/community centre and even in the sale of commercial sites during e-auction. SSP (Vigilance) Rupinderpal Singh, however, said it was too early to make any comment on information provided by the arrested officials of the LIT. “We are examining files and relevant records and questioning was still incomplete, which necessitated seeking more remand for intensive interrogation,” he said. Sewerage system found damaged at cave-in site Two thieves held, 7 stolen mobikes seized Our Correspondent PAGE 4 Tribune News Service Ludhiana, August 1 Despite “overcharging, exploitation of visitors and violation of norms” remaining a big issue at several parking lots operated by private firms (contractors) during the past nearly one decade, the Municipal Corporation is going to hold a fresh auction of parking lots but without blacklisting erring firms or contractors. Now, a city-based NGO, Council of Engineers, wrote to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, demanding that the parking lots should be operated directly by the MC, Ludhiana, to generate employment and income. Notably, no concrete action was taken against firms or contractors that were earlier found violating the norms and fleecing Vehicles at a parking lot in Bhadaur House, Ludhiana. INDERJEET VERMA visitors by charging more than parking rates fixed by the civic body. Sharing concern over the issue of overcharging at parking lots, the NGO has demanded from the Chief Minister to order an investigation into the alleged “ongoing loot” by the contractors at the lots. The NGO sought that the lots should not be auctioned to contractors this time. Ahead of the Assembly elections, AAP Ludhiana leaders had raised questions over the ‘parking mafia’ in the city but they also failed to provide any relief to the visitors at the lots. Kapil Arora of the Council of Engineers said: “The parking mafia is active for the past around one decade and despite being caught red-handed by MC officials and the public, it is still looting people by overcharging fees. The corporation has remained mum on the issue of overcharging most of the time. Fresh auction is to be conducted without blacklisting the erring contractors. The government should direct the civic body to recruit its own staff to run the lots”, he said. A BJP leader, Amarjit Singh Tikka, said: “The overcharging fees is a major issue at various parking lots operated by private contractors. To eliminate the nexus, the AAP government should direct the corporation to recruit unemployed youth to continued on page 2