11012023-LT-01.qxd 1/11/2023 12:56 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune LOCAL CONG LEADERS GEAR UP FOR BHARAT JODO YATRA FAISAL SHAIKH SHARES HIS JOURNEY WITH MANIESH FOUR MOVIES MAKE IT TO OSCARS REMINDER LIST Workers of the Congress are making all-out efforts to make Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatraa success. P2 The Maniesh Paul Podcast in its latest episode delivers the story of internet sensation Faisal Shaikh. P3 RRR, The Kashmir Files, Kantara and Gangubai Kathiawadi have made it to Oscars 2023 reminder list. P4 » » » FORECAST GENERALLY CLOUDY MAX 12°C | MIN 8°C YESTERDAY MAX 13°C | MIN 8°C SUNSET WEDNESDAY 5.43 PM SUNRISE THURSDAY 7:25 AM WEDNESDAY | 11 JANUARY 2023 | LUDHIANA Ludhiana, January 10 The city police yesterday arrested two persons on the charge of looting ATM cards from people and later pointing sharp weapons at them to get passwords to withdraw the money. The police also recovered 50 ATM cards from them. The suspects were identified as Harminder Singh of Shimlapuri and Gaurav of New Amar Nagar. ASI Savinder Singh said that the police got a tip-off that the suspects were running a gang of robbers. The ASI said they looted ATM cards from people and by pointing sharp weapons, they also forced the victims to reveal password. Later, they withdrew money from bank accounts of the victims. Yesterday, the suspects were present outside some ATM kiosk at Giaspura where they were to withdraw money from the looted ATM cards. Accordingly, the police conducted a raid and nabbed the accused, he added. One of the suspect, Kaka, who was also an accomplice of the nabbed accused had managed to give the slip to the police party. — TNS VIDYA BURNS UP THE DANCE FLOOR WITH CITY WOMEN P2 POWER SHUTDOWN LUDHIANA 10 am to 3 pm: Upkar Nagar, Kundan Puri, Pahwa Dharamshala, Grand Sliver Spoon, New Upkar Nagar and adjoining areas. 10 am to 5 pm: Areas on the rear side of GNE College, blocks A, B and C of Ishar Nagar, Star Road and Lohara village. 10 am to 6 pm: Industrial Area-A, Ambedkar Colony and Transport Nagar. 10.30 am to 5.30 pm: MRP Nagar, New Subhash Nagar, Swatantar Colony, Kuldeep Nagar, Atal Nagar, New Kuldeep Nagar, Lucky Enclave, Mangat Colony, Sunder Nagar, Anandpura Mohalla, Chander Lok Colony, Tilak Nagar, Krishna Colony, Gali No. 9 to 15 of New Madhopuri, 70-Feet Road, Gali No. 1 to 3 of Mahavir Jain Colony and adjoining areas. farmers’ body District in need of ambulances, Residents, state of Rahonprotest over poor Road 12 lying defunct at Civil Hospital Tribune News Service Manav Mander Tribune News Service Ludhiana, January 10 Twelve 108 ambulances are lying non-functional at the Ludhiana Civil Hospital even as the district needs more ambulances to cater to its entire population. The ambulances, bought at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore, have been discarded and are lying defunct on the premises of the Civil Hospital. A total of 35 ambulances were started in Ludhiana in 2014. Of these, 12 have become non-functional and are stationed on the hospital premises since the past three years. Now, these are supposed to be sold by the Health Department. It is learnt that expensive accessories and tyres of the ambulances have been stolen and all that is left now is junk. Many a times, unscrupulous elements are reported to enter the ambulances and bottles of liquor have been found inside them. “The ambulances have become a safe haven for anti-social elements. I have seen empty liquor bottles inside them. Now, even junk dealers are not ready to purchase them,” a doctor from the hospital said. There are forty-one, 108 PHOTO: ASHWANI DHIMAN Two arrested for ATM card fraud The defunct ambulances have been stationed on the hospital premises since the past three years. ‘VEHICLES SAFE HAVEN FOR ANTI-SOCIAL ELEMENTS’ A doctor working at the Civil Hospital said: “These ambulances have become a safe haven for anti-social elements. I have seen empty liquor bottles inside them. Now, even junk dealers are not ready to purchase them.” ambulances operational in the district, and apart from these, 11 are run by the Health Department. Sometimes when there are more referrals, the existing fleet of ambulances become inadequate to handle the rush of patients. For Ludhiana, with a population of more than 20 lakhs, just 52 ambulances in the government sector gives a tough Cop arrested for taking ~1K bribe Tribune News Service Ludhiana, January 10 The Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Tuesday arrested an ASI, Meghraj, posted at a lockup (Bakshi Khana) of the court complex here for demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 1,000. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Vigilance Bureau, Ravinderpal Singh Sandhu, said the ASI was arrested red-handed while accepting the bribe money from complainant Ramanjit Kaur, a resident of Satguru Nagar, Ludhiana city. He said the complainant had approached the VB and alleged that the police offi- cial had demanded Rs 1,000 as bribe from her for meeting her husband in the lockup on January 4 during the date of hearing in a court as he was in judicial custody. The SSP said the VB had investigated the allegations and laid a trap. The police official was nabbed redhanded while accepting a bribe of Rs 1,000 from the complainant in the presence of two official witnesses near Bharat Nagar Chowk, here. In this regard, a case under prevention of the Corruption Act has been registered against the suspect at the VB police station, Ludhiana. Further investigation was on in the case. time to patients and doctors. “We have a total of 41 ambulances in the district which are run under the 108 ambulance service. Sometimes, patient referral rate gets high and when ambulances are out of city in Patiala or Chandigarh, it becomes difficult to handle emergency cases back here,” a driver working under the 108 ambulance 2 agents booked for ~30 lakh fraud Ludhiana, January 10 The city police yesterday registered a fraud case against two travel agents for allegedly duping three persons of Rs 30 lakh on the pretext of sending them abroad. The suspects have been identified as Raj Kumar and Prince Kumar, residents of Daba. Complainant Davinder Singh of Ishar Nagar told the police that the travel agents had promised to send his son, brother and the latter’s wife to Canada on work permit and in lieu, they took Rs 30 lakh from them. But neither they sent them to Canada nor returned the money, he said. ASI Mewa Singh said the police had registered a case of fraud against them and further investigation was underway. — TNS service said. “More ambulances are needed to meet the requirements but the defunct ones are neither being disposed of nor being used by the department. These could still be used for short-distance travels, if maintained properly,” he added. Civil Surgeon Hitinder Kaur said due procedure would be followed to dispose of the ambulances. “We have 52 ambulances running in the district under the government sector and there are a few NGOs as well which are running ambulances,” she said. Ludhiana, January 10 The badly damaged Rahon Road has not been repaired for over a decade even after occurrence of a number of road mishaps on the stretch. Many residents along with members of the Bharti Kisan Union (Charuni) reached the office of the Deputy Commissioner (DC), Ludhiana, on Tuesday and staged a protest to express their anger against the district administration for turning a blind eye towards the dilapidated condition of the road for a long time. However, they were forced to return without meeting the DC or any other official concerned as they were unavailable in offices. PCS officials and cleri- cal staff were on mass leave. The protesters said Rahon Road (outside the city limits) was riddled with huge potholes, causing frequent mishaps. It was also not recarpeted. The stretch from Khwajke village to Mattewara Bridge on Rahon Road was in a worse condition. Heavy vehicles, especially tippers, usually pass through the road. They said they demand that the Deputy Commissioner must take measures to get the road recarpeted to save the lives of commuters. Hardeep Singh, a member of the Bharti Kisan Union (Charuni), said the Rahon Road had not been repaired for the past many years due to which mishaps were frequently taking place on bro- Residents and members of the BKU (Charuni) hold a protest in Ludhiana. HIMANSHU MAHAJAN People forced to return without getting their works done at government offices Tribune News Service Ludhiana, January 10 People faced inconveniences at various government offices as PCS officers, revenue officials, clerical staff of the DC office and other employees continued their mass leave for the second consecutive day, Tuesday. Offices of the Deputy Commissioner, Regional Transport Authority, Municipal Corporation, Revenue offices, SDM offices, etc, wore a deserted look today. Automated driving test centres did not provide services in the city and their gates remained closed. To mark their protest against the arrest of the RTA, Ludhiana, PCS, Narinder Singh Dhaliwal, by the Vigilance Bureau, the Punjab Civil Services Officers’ Association on Monday went on a mass leave. They demanded immediate release of the arrested RTA, Ludhiana, Narinder Singh Dhaliwal, and quashing of the FIR that was registered against him. In support of the PCS officers, Revenue officials, clerical employees of the DC office and RTA office, etc, had also gone on mass casual leave as a mark of protest. Gurnam Singh Virk, president of the DC Offices Employees Union Punjab, said they had extended support to PCS officers, and clerical employees associated with their association across the state are on mass leave from January 9 to 13. Extending support to PCS officers, officials associated with the Punjab Revenue Officers Association are also on a mass casual leave, an official said. Meanwhile, the people bear the brunt due to the ongoing strike of the officials and employees. A member of the Vigilant Citizens’ Forum, Kuldeep Singh Khaira, said: “The common man are forced to suffer again as officials and employees at various gov- Police Commissionerate most deadly among all three in state Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Ludhiana, January 10 The Ludhiana Police Commissionerate has also earned the dubious distinction of being the most deadly among all three police commissionerates in the state, a latest government report has confirmed. The gravity of the situation could be gauged from the fact that the Ludhiana police had reported a whopping 380 deaths in road accidents during 2021 against only 157 casualties, which account for even less than half, precisely 41.32 per cent, logged in the other two police commissionerates in Amritsar and Jalandhar, the official figures have revealed. The figures were released in the report on Reports max 380 road mishap deaths against 157 in Amritsar, Jalandhar MONTH-WISE TALLY MONTH LUDHIANA AMRITSAR JALANDHAR January 30 5 10 February 43 3 8 March 34 8 7 April 12 5 7 May 27 5 9 June 27 4 5 July 41 4 8 August 28 5 3 September 36 6 7 October 35 6 12 November 28 5 5 December 39 9 11 Total 380 65 92 A black spot near a school in Ludhiana. TRIBUNE PHOTO: HIMANSHU MAHAJAN Punjab Road Accidents and Traffic-2021, which was released by Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav recently. The report prepared by a team, led by ADGP (Traffic) AS Rai, a copy of which is available with The Tribune, showed that a total of 537 persons had died due to road accidents in all three police commissionerates, which account for 11.7 per cent of the total share of 4,589 road accident fatalities reported in the entire c m y b ken portions of the road. “We held a protest outside the DC office today. However, the Deputy Commissioner was unavailable in the office. Clerical staff were on strike. Now, we have decided to meet the Deputy Commissioner on January 17. We demand that he should get the road recarpeted at the earliest. If our voice is not heard, we will stage protests at toll plazas to make roads toll-free,” he said. PWD SDO Amit Soni said the state government had sent a proposal to the Central Government for carpeting 21 roads of the state, including Rahon Road, under the Central Road Infrastructure Funds. It was expected that the road carpeting project would be approved soon. state during 2021. The month-wise breakup of the road accident deaths in the Ludhiana Police Commissionerate revealed that February remained the most fatal month with the maximum of 43 casualties while April turned out to be the safest month with the minimum of 12 accident deaths during 2021. Among other months, January reported 30 deaths in road accidents, March 34, May and June 27 each, July 41, August 28, September 36, October 35, November 28, and December logged 39 road accident fatalities . In Amritsar and Jalandhar, January recorded 5 and 10 deaths in road accidents, respectively, February 3 and 8, March 8 and 7, April 5 and 7, May 5 and 9, June 4 and 5, July 4 and 8, August 5 and 3, September 6 and 7, October 6 and 12, November 5 each, and December witnessed 9 and 11 casualties in the Amrit- sar and Jalandhar Police Commissionerates, respectively. Grim situation While not a single month in 2021 had reported road accident deaths in a single figure with all 12 months reporting double digit casualties, February being the deadliest with the maximum of 43 fatalities and April the safest month with the minimum of 12 deaths, Amritsar had recorded no double digit figure in any of the 12 months. However, Jalandhar had reported 12, 11 and 10 casualties in October, December and January, respectively, while other nine months of the year had recorded singledigit figures. Continued on page 2 ernment offices have gone on a mass leave. Thus, the people are forced to return without getting their works done. I want to question that can the officials and employees go on a mass leave or strike to paralyse the functioning of the government? Their move is against the public.” “We want the government should take a bold decision in view of the public interest. If the officials and employees are unavailable in the offices, the government should take action against them and also recruit new staff to carry out works of the public. Equal treatment must be given to all,” he said. In setback to LIP, councillor Bitta joins AAP Ludhiana, January 10 After bidding adieu to the Lok Insaaf Party (LIP), councillor Kuldeep Singh Panesar (Bitta) and his supporters joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) at Chandigarh on Tuesday. Bitta is currently the councillor from Ward 38. AAP (Punjab) general secretary Harchand Singh Barsat and Atam Nagar MLA Kulwant Singh Sidhu welcomed Bitta to AAP today. Bitta said his supporters, including Dharminder Saraon, Money Bhagat and Vishu Dhingra, also joined the party. He said the AAP government was continuously working for the welfare of the state and due to its anti-corruption policy, there is a fear among the corrupt. “I will keep working for the welfare of the people,” he said. — TNS