07012023-ATR-01.qxd 1/7/2023 12:15 AM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 14°C | MIN 7°C YESTERDAY MAX 11°C | MIN 5°C PUBLIC SAFETY GOES FOR A TOSS AT CONSTRUCTION SITES RENOWNED ART DIRECTOR SUNIL BABU IS NO MORE MX STUDIOS COLLABORATES WITH DUBAI ECONOMY When it comes to executing public works, no priority is given to public safety by executing agencies. P2 Noted art director Sunil Babu died at a private hospital on Thursday night due to a cardiac arrest. He was 50. P3 MX Player has announced its association with Dubai Economy & Tourism for mini-series A Spin Around Dubai. P4 » » » SUNSET SATURDAY 5.42 PM SUNRISE SUNDAY 7:31 AM SATURDAY | 7 JANUARY 2023 | AMRITSAR INBRIEF TWO ARRESTED WITH CHARAS Amritsar: The Maqboolpura police recovered 100-gm charas and arrested two persons in this connection. They were identified as Harsimran Singh, alias Sunny, of Anand Avenue and Navraj Singh of Tarn Taran. The police have registered a case under the NDPS Act and further probe was on to ascertain the source of contraband. TNS TWO VEHICLE THIEVES BOOKED Amritsar: The Ajnala police booked two persons identified as Massu Singh and Mani Singh, both residents of Nawa Dalla Rajputa village, for allegedly stealing vehicles and later selling their parts. The police said the duo used to steal tractors and other vehicles. The police raided a spot and found parts of a Mahindra tractor, which were opened by the duo. The accused fled the spot. A case under Sections 379 and 411 of the IPC was registered against them. Raids were on to nab them. TNS Civic body to crack whip on illegal MC staff face encroachers’ wrath commercial buildings in holy city Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 6 The Municipal Corporation has prepared a fresh list of hotels and commercial buildings under construction without getting the plan approved. At present, construction of many multi-storeyed buildings is going on in the city without getting the commercial plan approved. On receiving complaints in this regard, Municipal Commissioner Sandeep Rishi has issued orders to Joint Commissioner Hardeep Singh to investigate the matter. Joint Commissioner Hardeep Singh, Municipal Town Planner (MTP) wing secretary Vishal Wadhawan, Assistant Town Planner Paramjit Singh Dutta, along with MTP department staff visited various locations to check the under-construction hotels and an illegal colony at Aalu Mandi, Sultanwind Road and Golden Avenue. MC officials inspect an illegal construction in Amritsar on Friday. TRIBUNE PHOTO Joint Commissioner Hardeep Singh said that as per the orders of Municipal Commissioner, they are visiting the spots and checking the violations. He stated that a dozen under-construction hotels have been inspected. A report had already been sought from the officials of the MTP department in this regard, but they have not submitted the report yet. Joint Commissioner Hardeep Singh stated that during the inspection, they found that the under-construction hotels were coming up illegally. He said a detailed report would be prepared and submitted to the Municipal Commissioner. Hardeep Singh said that for taking departmental action against the officials of the MTP department of these areas, the corporation is preparing a report. Further action would be taken as per the orders of the Municipal Commissioner, he said. MC Commissioner Sandeep Rishi said that illegal hotels will be demolished by taking massive action in the coming days. Special modern technology will be implemented to demolish these hotels, he pointed out. Amritsar, January 6 Officials of the Amritsar Municipal Corporation (MC) faced the wrath of encroachers while on duty at Kabir Park on GT Road here on Friday. High drama prevailed with the councillors of the area supporting the encroachers. A team of the Estate Wing of the Municipal Corporation reached Kabir Park in front of Guru Nanak Dev University and had heated argument with area councillor Sukhdev Singh Chahal over the removal of an illegal kiosk. In view of the G-20 summit in the city, the civic body has been removing illegal encroachments from main roads and markets. The team, which reached Kabir Park under the supervision of Estate Officer Dharmendrajit Singh, faced opposition from councillors and supporters. Area councillor Sukhdev Singh Chahal opposed the move to remove the illegal kiosk. The drama continued for more than an hour. The MC officials tried to pacify the An kiosk being removed from Kabir Park on Friday. TRIBUNE PHOTO councillor and his supporters again and again that the kiosk was illegal and there were orders to remove it, but the councillor would not listen. The youths sitting inside the kiosk were appealed to come out. At last, Praveen Kumar, in-charge of the Kabir Park police post, along with his team reached the spot along with MC staff and removed the kiosk. Two days ago, a team of the Improvement Trust, which had gone to remove an ille- Rlys earns ~2.79 cr as fine from ticketless travellers Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Vehicles parked wrongly on the Lawrence Road in Amritsar on Friday. PHOTOS: VISHAL KUMAR Wrongly parked vehicles challaned Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 6 A city cannot become a smart city until its citizens are smart enough to play their part and learn to respect the civic rights of others. A glaring example came to the fore on the main Lawrence Road, which is known as the heart of the holy city, today when Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Amandeep Kaur challaned several wrongly parked vehicles at Lawrence Road Chowk. However, hours after she left the scene, the situation was back to square one. Residents again parked their vehicles encroaching half of the road hindering the smooth flow of the traffic. The traffic police challaned several vehicle owners on the Lawrence Road for parking their vehicles wrongly. The ADCP said despite A cop fixes a wheel clamp in a wrongly parked car on Friday. making painstaking efforts, people were not learning and again encroaching on roads leading to traffic chaos on the roads. She said the traffic police would now deal with the situation with an iron hand and violators would not be spared. They would be challaned and their vehicles impounded if the need be. The ADCP along with incharges of four traffic zones of the city visited the Pipli Sahib Gurdwara road, Putlighar, Gwal Mandi, the railway station link road, Ashoka Chowk, Crstal Chowk, Doaba Chowk and Novelty Chowk (Lawrence road chowk). The cops removed illegal encroachments besides issuing challans to wrongly parked vehicles. The shopkeepers were asked not to display their goods on the road and park the vehicles in a line. She said stern action would be taken against the offenders. She also urged the people to cooperate with the police for making the city traffic chaos free. Amritsar, January 6 The Ferozepur division under which the Amritsar railway station falls, imposed a penalty on 337 passengers and collected over Rs 58,000 in fine for littering on the station premises under the AntiLittering and Anti-Spitting Act besides earning a revenue of Rs 2.79 crore through checking of tickets. This was visible at the local railway station where platforms and their entrance and exit gates were found litterfree. Railway officials said that maintaining cleanliness and convincing the visitors not to litter the properties of the railway was a daunting task. Dr Seema Sharma, Divisional Railway Manager, said regular checking was done at Online fraud: Man duped of ~15L Amritsar, January 6 A city resident has fallen victim to a phishing racket and lost Rs 15 lakh from his bank account. Though the police have registered a case against unidentified persons in this connection, there was no breakthrough in the case. Investigations were handed continued on page 2 Conduct CBI probe into PDS ‘scam’ , demands BJP Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 6 While alleging a scam in the Public Distribution System (PDS) in Punjab, BJP’s state vice-president Jagmohan Singh Raju today urged Union Minister for Consumer Affairs Piyush Goel to mark a CBI inquiry into it. In a communiqué to the Union Minister, he alleged that the foodgrain meant for the economically weaker sections of society was being pilfered in connivance with officials of the state government and government funds were being swindled. He said under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide free foodgrain to poor people, each person listed in a ration card was eligible to get 15-kg wheat per quarter free of cost. He said in Amritsar, only 12kg wheat was being distributed to the ration card holders instead of the allotted quota of 15 kg. However, on record 15-kg wheat was being shown to be distributed. “The unaccounted 3-kg wheat is pilfered and diverted to the black market,” he continued on page 2 c m y b Imposed penalty on 337 passengers; collected ~58K for littering on station premises A number of dustbins placed at the railway station. SUNIL KUMAR the main stations to keep them clean and to prevent the general public from spreading filth and to make them aware of cleanliness. As a result, in November, more than Rs 58,000 was collected from 337 passengers for littering on the station premises. In December, the division earned a revenue of Rs 2.79 crore through ticket checking. A total of 28,804 passengers were found travelling without tickets during checking in trains during December by the ticket checking staff and chief tick- et inspectors of the division. Of these, 5,094 ticketless passengers were detected at the local railway station and a fine of over Rs 44 lakh was imposed on them. The ticket checking team of the division conducts intensive checks in trains to curb ticketless and irregular travel to provide better services to all genuine rail users. DRM Seema Sharma said checking will continue in Ferozepur division. The main purpose was to improve the sale of railway tickets and recover fines from passengers travelling without a valid ticket. Appreciating the ticket checking staff for their work, the DRM said this has been possible due to their collective efforts and hard work. 154 passengers stranded at airport for 24 hrs Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 6 Around 154 passengers bound for the US were a disgruntled lot at Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport here as their flight was delayed by hours due to foggy weather conditions. The passengers alleged that the airline staff neither allowed them to go out nor provided them correct information on the status of their flight for hours. Sharing some videos, some passengers claimed that more than 154 passengers were supposed to board a Neos flight for the US on 12.50 am on January 5. All the passengers were checked-in at 7 pm on January 4, but the flight did not arrive at the airport. Amit Sharma, duty officer at Neos, said as the visibility dropped to 100m, the flight was diverted to Jaipur. As per the rule, the crew could not fly for the next 12 hours after landing at the final destination. On January 5, the flight took off from Jaipur at 8.40 pm and landed at 9.42 pm at the city airport. All passengers boarded and departed for Milan at 11 pm on Thursday night. continued on page 2 gal encroachment in Nehru Complex, had an argument with Heera Paneer Wale. He reportedly threatened and abused the staff of the AIT. An FIR was lodged against Heera on the complaint of the AIT officials. Estate Officer Dharminderjit Singh said they were instructed by senior officials to remove all the encroachments. “We have removed a few kiosks in the past and the drive would continue for the next few days,” he added. Bangladesh national held near IB by BSF Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 6 The Border Security Force (BSF) nabbed a Bangladesh national who was allegedly trying to cross over to Pakistan illegally in the wee hours here on Friday. He was identified as Mahmud Alam Tulu (62 years) of Durgabordi, Madaripur, Bangladesh. He was nabbed near Roranwala Khurd village in Kot Raizada border outpost here. The BSF seized a Bangladesh passport from his possession, though there was no visa stamp on it for visiting Pakistan. According to information, he had approached immigration authorities at the integrated check post (ICP) for crossing over to Pakistan. However, as there was no visa granted on the passport, he was asked to return. Around 3 am, he tried to cross over to Pakistan and was caught by the BSF The authorities . recovered a Bangladesh passport with six months travelling visa in India. However, it did not have any visa for travelling to Pakistan. During preliminary questioning, he said he was married and his family resides in Pakistan. continued on page 2