08012023-JTR-01.qxd 1/8/2023 12:12 AM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar tribune ASH PROBLEM: RESIDENTS PLAN PROTEST AT DC’S OFFICE ON BIRTH ANNIV OF IRRFAN, REMEMBERING HIS 5 ROLES ACTOR JENNA ORTEGA-STARRER WEDNESDAY SET FOR SEASON 2 To raise their voice against power plant officials and admn for dragging their feet on the matter. P2 Let’s look at five such film roles which the actor essayed in films that fetched him global recognition. P3 American actor Jenna Ortega-starrer Netflix series Wednesday has been renewed for Season 2. P4 » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 12°C | MIN 7°C YESTERDAY MAX 23°C | MIN 6°C SUNSET SUNDAY 5.40 PM SUNRISE MONDAY 7:27 AM » SUNDAY | 8 JANUARY 2023 | JALANDHAR High drama witnessed at MC meeting Basking in the sun TRIBUNE PHOTO: SARABJIT SINGH Mayor Jagdish Raja draws councillors’ ire |Members seek resolution of civic issues MC CHIEF GHERAOED Aakanksha N Bhardwaj Tribune News Service former safai karamchari leader Chandan Grewal, along with street light repair workers, gheraoed MC chief Abhijeet Kaplish’s vehicle seeking salaries. ■ The commissioner told Grewal that it was not the right way to hold a protest and he could meet him over the issue ■ Heated arguments were exchanged between Kaplish and Grewal. Kaplish then got out of his official car and left the civic body premises in another vehicle. A flock of pigeons perch on a wire after bright sunshine greeted city residents on Saturday. (Clockwise from top) Protesters gherao the vehicle of MC Commissioner Abhijeet Kaplish; Mayor Jagdish Raja addresses the House meeting and BJP, Congress councillors exchange heated arguments during MC House Meeting in Jalandhar on Saturday. TRIBUNE PHOTOS: MALKIAT SINGH Jalandhar, January 7 Taunts, sarcasm, complaints, and harsh comments welcomed Mayor Jagdish Raja in the last General House meeting of the Congress-led Municipal Corporation held today. Several dramatic scenes were also witnessed. In the past five years, Raja had faced backlash from every party leader, including the councillors of his own party. In his today’s speech, when he called his tenure as mayor as a nice ‘journey’ thanked everyone present in the meeting, Congress councillor Des Raj Jassal questioned, “Tusi mayor vaali kedi Bhumika nibhaayi hai? Tusi koi izzat rehn nai ditti.” BJP leader Shailee Khanna offered a ‘topi’ (cap) to mayor. In a sarcastic attack on the mayor, she said, ‘Main sareya vallo tuhanu topi dena chahungi, kyunki tusi panj saal baakiya nu topi pvaai hai’. Congress councillor Onkar Tikka also made a remark on mayor, ‘The Congress party is losing Jalandhar MC this time and you are responsible for the same.’ Another councillor Davinder Rony said, ‘Tusi Jalandhar nu number 1 bana ditta, par thallo di.’ Even if some voices wanted to defend the mayor, others raised theirs, to snub them. However, Councillor Nirmal Singh Nimma from Ward No. 6 councillor ■ After the MC meeting concluded, said, “Even when a government employee gets retired, he/she is given a warm goodbye, the mayor did manage to work on several issues before all the Smart City projects chaos. So, we should be respectful enough to say goodbye in a nice manner. Sewerage issues dominate There was not even a single councillor who did not raise the issue of the deplorable situation of the sewerage system in the city. During the zero hour, councillors told their problems to MC Commissioner Abhijeet Kaplish which he tried to address. Since it was his first General Gouse meeting after he assumed the charge as MC Commissioner, Kaplish addressed the councillors when the meeting commenced. After he finished, the councillors took out a point of his introductory speech in which the commissioner mentioned that MC was having ‘enough funds’ and quipped that if the civic body had funds, then why no developmental works were being done? “Around 25-30 youngsters who repair the damaged streetlights have not been given their salaries for months and you say that corporation has funds,” said Davinder Rony. Councillors Shweta Dhir, Sarfo Devi, Onkar Tikka, Sushil Kumar, Anjali Bhagat, and several others raised sewerage issues and dark areas due to non-working street lights related to their wards. Law & order situation in Punjab deteriorating: MP Tiwari announces ~2L grant for Thana village Garhshankar, January 7 Lok Sabha member from Anandpur Sahib and former Union Minister Manish Tewari has expressed concern over the prevailing law-andorder situation in the state. The MP addressed multiple public meetings in Thana village and Roar Majra. He also announced a grant of Rs 2 lakh for the development of Thana village. In his address at a meeting, MP Tewari rued that the law-and-order situation in Punjab has deteriorated and that killings are taking place in broad daylight. Emphasising the need for MP Manish Tewari during an event in Garhshankar. the development of villages, he said the country can progress only with the developments of villages. PPCC member Pankaj Kripal, zila parishad Member Harmeshwar Singh and former sarpanch Rachpal Singh were present, among others. — OC Mehatpur police nab bike thieves Jalandhar, January 7 The Mehatpur police have arrested three motorbike thieves who had been stealing and selling off bikes. Stolen motorcyle parts were recovered from them. Shamsher Singh and Kuljit Singh, both residents of Mehatpur, had been booked for stealing motorbikes on a statement by Dariya Vale Bille village resident Ravinder Singh. An FIR was registered. The Mehatpur police managed to nab the two suspects. Upon interrogation, the duo confessed to the crime. They said they used to steal motorcycles and then sell them to a scrap-dealer, Sonu. The police then also raided the house of the scrap-dealer, and arrested him with parts of stolen bikes. — OC Few takers for 35-bed night shelter at Domoria Bridge Lying underutilised, AAP leaders mulling using a part of the building for setting up Aam Aadmi Clinics Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Latifpura residents hold a protest in Jalandhar on Saturday. Latifpura residents burn govt’s effigy LEFT IN LURCH Tribune News Service Jalandhar, January 7 On the 29th day of their indefinite protest against the Punjab government and Jalandhar Improvement Trust (JIT), residents of Latifpura under the banner of Latifpura Murh Waseba Sanjha Morcha (Latifpura Rehabilitation Committee) burnt the effigy of state government at Model Town on Saturday, demanding reconstruction of their houses at the same site. The residents said it is due to the alleged negligence of the JIT and state government that carried out the demolition drive without any arrangements of their rehabilitation, they are forced to sleep under the open sky in this cold weather. “The SC by protecting the rights of the railway colony residents in Haldwani, had made it clear that governments can’t throw people out on roads overnight and a proper system has to be followed and a rehabilitation plan must be prepared. But in our case, we were left to fend on our own,” they rued. CPI State Secretary Bant ❝ The SC by protecting the rights of the railway colony residents in Haldwani had made it clear that govts can’t throw people out on roads overnight. But in our case, we were left to fend on our own. Residents ❞ Singh Brar, who joined the protest today at Latifpura, said the state government was under the illusion that the people would not open their mouths against the desertion. He said the people of Punjab, farmers, social workers among other activists were standing in support of the affected residents and the protest will continue until the resettlement of the displaced people at Latifpura is not done and compensation is not paid to the victim families. He also said that he along with other farmers leaders and social organisations will be participating in the highway and railway jam being conducted near Dhanowali on January 16. Jalandhar, January 7 In these nearly freezing cold nights when night shelters set up in the city should have been filled to full capacity, the usual number of people using the facility is far too low. The main night shelter at Domoria Bridge just adjoining the busy Jalandhar City Railway Station has a capacity to accommodate at least 28 men and seven women in two separate sections. The number of entries, however, ranges between just two to three. The reason is that the MC officials have issued directions to the caretaker to A worker cleans bedding at a night shelter. MALKIAT SINGH ensure that the visitor carries his Aadhaar card details. Since most needy people languishing outside INBRIEF FOUR BOOKED FOR ASSAULT Phagwara: The police have booked four members of a family, including a woman, for assaulting a villager. The accused have been identified as Sukhdev Singh, a resident of Burj Hassan village, his wife Soma and sons Sunny and Saabi. Satnam Singh, a resident of the same village, told the police that the accused attacked him with clubs and bricks on January 5 and threatened of dire consequences. A case has been registered. OC 1 HELD WITH 10-GM HEROIN Phagwara: The police arrested a drug peddler with 10-gm of heroin. The accused has been identified as Malkit Singh of Gounsu Wal village. OC c m y b the railway station are without any ID card and are usually in a state of intoxication, they are not allowed entry here. No woman has used this facility at least in the last one month, going by the register maintained at the shelter. Even the caretaker deployed by the MC at the night shelter Happy Singh said, “Women rarely come to stay here overnight even though there is a separate dormitory for them.” For the same reason, the Aam Aadmi Party leaders are contemplating on using a part of the building for setting up Aam Aadmi Clinics, which are set to be opened in the second phase on January 26. Dinesh Dhall, AAP leader, along with health officials, visited the site today to check if a part of the night shelter, which is not drawing a good response, could be used for the purpose. The second night shelter under Lyallpur Khalsa College overbridge has eight beds, all of which are used by the same set of people on daily basis. Hawkers near the night shelter said, “This place has been occupied permanently by eight shelterless men who stay here in the night daily. No one else is allowed entry. Even if some needy passenger from the adjoining bus stand area asks for shelter in the night, they do not let him in. For the record, they make new fake entries of eight people on a daily basis.” MC Commissioner Abhijeet Kaplish said, “Ever since winters started, I have sent my teams to check the condition at the night shelters and see if the visitors were getting the needed facilities. My staff has also been going around in the dark and asking the poor to use the night shelters. Some beggars are not ready to move inside the night shelters. Still, we will try to remove certain discrepancies that are there in the system.”