10082022-ATR-01.qxd 10-08-2022 00:05 Page 1 c m y b Amritsar TRIBUNE CONG ORGANISES ‘TIRANGA YATRA’ TO MARK 75 YRS OF INDEPENDENCE Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring launched the five-day ‘Tiranga Yatra’. FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY SKY INBRIEF 5 ARMED PERSONS ROB SWEET SHOP Amritsar: Five armed persons looted a sweet meat shop on the Ajnala road at gunpoint here on Sunday night. One of the suspects was later identified as Gurpreet Singh alias Gopi of Muradpura village. He was arrested by the police team within 24 hours, while raids are on to arrest his accomplices. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Investigations) Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar said Inder Singh of Ranjit Avenue and shop owner, told the police that the incident took place around 11.20 pm on Sunday. He said he was counting the cash when five armed persons entered the shop and looted the cash and his mobile phone. The police recovered a doublebarreled gun, 13 live cartridges, two toy pistols, snatched mobile and Rs 2,000 cash from Gopi’s possession. He was produced in the court and brought on police remand. Raids are on to arrest his accomplices. TNS ONE ARRESTED FOR SODOMISING BOY Amritsar: The Division B police have arrested a boy for allegedly sodomising a minor boy. The accused is cousin of the 12-year-old victim. The family members alleged that the accused showed vulgar videos to him and later subjected him to unnatural sex. The police registered a case under Section 377 of the IPC and Section 4 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. TNS The Democratic Teachers’ Front district unit held a protest against the decision to conduct departmental and computer test. SUNSET WEDNESDAY 7:19 PM Amritsar, August 9 Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) has achieved its alltime high ranking in India Today-MDRA (Marketing & Development Research Associates) Best Universities Survey-2022. It has attained overall 14th rank among the universities of India and has improved its ranking by three positions from the last year. It is the only statefunded university of northern region, including Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh, to figure among the top 15 universities of the country and is placed at sixth position among the state-funded ADAH CELEBRATES RAKSHA BANDHAN WITH AUTO DRIVERS PAGE 4 Actor Adah Sharma tied rakhis to auto-rickshaw drivers. Happiness on each driver’s face was overwhelming. SUNRISE THURSDAY 5:52 AM WEDNESDAY | 10 AUGUST 2022 | AMRITSAR Ayushman Bharat insurance frauds on Health Dept’s radar Seek waiver of tax for pandemic period, increase in fare Amritsar, August 9 With reports of some private hospitals trying to mint money from Ayushman Bharat-Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana (AB-SSBY) by using fake and inflated bills, the district Health Department has started looking into the details of such cases and is keeping a vigil. With over 3.20 lakh beneficiary card holders in the district, the AB-SSBY has promised to provide cashless treatment of up to Rs 5 lakh in the government and private hospitals. Of the total 105 empanelled hospitals in the district under the scheme, 95 are private hospitals and 10 are government hospitals. Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 9 Private bus operators in the district went on strike today against the alleged failure of the AAP government to fulfil their demands, including waiver of tax for the Covid-19 pandemic period. The protesters raised slogans against the state government. With private buses off the roads, commuters faced a lot of inconvenience. Passengers had to rely on state-run buses like Punjab Roadways, PEPSU and PRTC to reach their destination. Pivate bus operators said despite the government promising to waive off the tax of the last four months of 2021 due to Covid-19 losses, the same had not been done yet. They said the ongoing free bus service to women in the state-owned buses had also hit their businesses. They also sought a hike in the existing bus fares in the state. Palwinder Singh, a union leader, said if their demands were not met then they would keep their operations closed across the state till August 14. Police personnel were deployed in and around the Shahid Madan Lal Dhingra Inter-State Bus Terminus. ■ The Punjab Police have been on alert and are taking security measures for thwarting any untoward incident. The police urged people to inform them if they find any suspicious or abandoned thing. TNS Passengers face inconvenience at the bus stand as (below) private bus operators hold a protest against the state government in Amritsar on Tuesday. PHOTOS: VISHAL KUMAR Some roads were blocked around the ISBT where the protesting bus operators had parked their buses. A commuter, Jasminder Kaur, said she came here to board a bus to Dasuya to meet her relatives there. However, no bus was available. Even reaching the bus stand was a difficult task. In Tarn Taran, all private buses, including mini-buses, remained off roads on Tuesday, causing great inconvenience to the passengers. IMPROVES RANK BY THREE POSITIONS ■ The Guru Nanak Dev University has improved its ranking by three positions from the last year ■ It is the only state-funded university in the northern region to figure among the top 15 universities of the country and is placed at sixth position among the state-funded universities in the country ■ The university has performed well in all parameters universities in the country. The university has performed well in all parameters (reputation and governance, academic and research excellence and infrastructure and living experience etc.) set by India Today for ranking the Tribune News Service ACTION AS PER LAW If any empanelled hospital is found indulging in any fraudulent activity, action is taken against it as per the law. ❝ Dr Charanjit Singh, CIVIL SURGEON Officials of the district Health Department stated that while some hospitals were trying to make money by showing inflated bills, others were using fake bills for the same. It has also been alleged that while these hospitals are making money, actual beneficiaries are forced to pay for their treat- ment even though they are eligible for the cashless treatment facility. A flagship programme of the government to help people get cashless treatment at government and private hospitals is being exploited by some unscrupulous hospitals to make money. Earlier too, the Health Department had detected such anomalies and taken action against the guilty hospitals. Civil Surgeon Dr Charanjit Singh said, “If any empanelled hospital is found indulging in any fraudulent activity, action is taken against it as per the law.” He said the audit of these hospitals was being conducted regularly by the department as well as the insurer. Two held for illegal sand mining Amritsar, August 9 The Amritsar Rural police nabbed two persons for indulging in illegal sand mining in Ramdass area here on Monday evening. One of their accomplices managed to escape the spot. The police also confiscated a tipper and a JCB machine (earth excavator) used in digging sand. Those arrested were identified as Hardeep Singh of Shehzada village and Balwinder Singh of Bharth Talwandi village in Gurdaspur and their A tipper that was seized by the police on Tuesday. TRIBUNE PHOTO absconding accomplice as Bablu of Shehzada village. According to information, due to rise in water level in the Ravi and banning of sand mining till September 30, no excavation of sand is allowed to be carried out in the riverbed. However, people allegedly involved in illegal mining were targeting nearby agricultural lands to dig sand. The police have registered a case under Section 21 of the Mining and Minerals Act and Section 379 of the IPC against the three accused. Gurwinder Singh, SHO, Ramdass police station, said raids were on to nab Bablu, who was on the run since the incident. — TNS AAP zila parishad member opens fire on his wife 82-yr-old Amarjit Kaur relives horrors of separation Tarn Taran, August 9 Aam Aadmi Party’s zila Pprishad member Munish Kumar alias Monu Cheema shot at his wife in Jhabal village on Tuesday. Vishali, sarpanch of Cheema Kalan village, has been admitted to a private hospital in Amritsar where her condition is said to be stable. The incident took place when Vishali raised objection over Cheema’s illicit relations. Cheema had allegedly abducted the said woman a few days ago and the matter was brought to the notice of the police by Vishali’s relatives. On Tuesday, when Cheema brought the said woman home, his wife raised objection and Monu in a fit of rage opened fire at her. A bullet hit her leg and she got injured. Jhabal SHO Prabhjit Singh said a case had been registered against Cheema and the woman. — OC Tarn Taran, August 9 Eightytwo-year-old Amarjit Kaur, wife of late Iqbal Singh of Gali Masteran Wali, Tarn Taran, got emotional when she remembered the sorrow and agonies of the Partition of the country 75 years ago. She said as soon as residents of Amar Sidhu near Lahore were informed through the public address system of the gurdwara that the village had become part of Pakistan, all people, except Muslims, left the village. The news of violent incidents occurring on a very large scale in Lahore had reached the area residents. Lahore was the very first place to witness acts of violence, she said. Through the public address Gurbaxpuri GNDU ranks 14th in nat’l survey Tribune News Service PAGE 2 Commuters face hardships as private buses go off road Police personnel check luggage of a passenger at the railway station in Amritsar on Tuesday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR Police on Tuesday carried out search operations at the railway station in Amritsar in view of the upcoming Independence Day celebrations. TEACHERS SEEK CANCELLATION OF DEPARTMENTAL TESTS MAX 37°C | MIN 29°C | YESTERDAY MAX 36°C | MIN 29°C Security up for I-Day ■ The Government Railway PAGE 2 universities. Recently, the university attained 44th rank in National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking. The university has also been placed among top 9 per cent of the world universities as per the Center for World University Rankings (CWUR). Vice-Chancellor Prof (Dr) Jaspal Singh Sandhu congratulated the faculty and staff for their consistent efforts in various dimensions. He added that the quality of research has also improved tremendously. The H-Index of the university has improved from 64 to 125 in the last five years with top 10 per cent highly cited papers in Scopus. c m y b system the villagers were alarmed to be ready to move to safer places. In the meantime, a military vehicle reached the village and people scurried for it so as to be taken to safer places. Just seven years of age at that time, she was left behind along with her two brothers (one younger and another elder one) in the village. Her parents and other members of the family another military had left for vehicle reached the some undisvillage. They talked closed destito military personnation by the nel and were previous vehiassured by them that PA N they must get their cle. The three RTITIO siblings started family members where weeping as they had no they would be taken by them. inkling of how to locate the othAmarjit said they were er family members. As they dropped at Gurdwara Bhath started searching for them, Sahib Baba Bidhi Chand HOUSES WERE SET AFIRE We saw a large number of houses engulfed in fire in Patti. Besides, many vehicles were spotted loaded with dead bodies, which were being taken to be cremated by military authorities. Amarjit Kaur ❝ Chheena in Patti. It was their good luck that their family members had already been evacuated to the same gurdwara where they were reunited with them. As per the schedule, the residents of Amar Sidhu were to be dropped in Patti. The whole family had nothing else except the clothing they were wearing. They saw a large number of houses engulfed in fire in Patti as Muslim families had set their houses on fire before leaving the town, thinking they would ever return to the place. They saw vehicles loaded with dead bodies, which were being taken to be cremated by military authorities. At a tender age of five, she had started going to the village gurdwara to study where the granthi taught them the Gurmukhi alphabet and used to recite Japji Sahib in the morning and rehras in the evening. She said about a month ago, the village children studying in the gurdwara had started discussing a war-like situation soon. Amarjit Kaur said the family had to face great hardships as all their belongings had Continued on page 2