17012023-ATR-01.qxd 1/17/2023 12:21 AM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune GNDU POSTPONES EXAMS AS EVALUATION SUSPEND EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE WINS 5 AWARDS Sci-fi action Everything Everywhere All At Once has won five awards at the Critics Choice Awards. P3 PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 15°C | MIN 0°C YESTERDAY MAX 17°C | MIN 1°C CHOTA BHAIJAN IS OUT OF BIGG BOSS HOUSE GNDU has postponed all theory semester and annual exams scheduled on January 18. P2 FORECAST Abdu Rozik, popularly known as Chota Bhaijan, was evicted from the Bigg Boss house on Saturday. P4 » » SUNSET TUESDAY 5.50 PM SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 7:30 AM » TUESDAY | 17 JANUARY 2023 | AMRITSAR INBRIEF DCP BANS DISPLAY OF ARMS, AMMO Encroachments back on Novelty Chowk footpaths Amritsar: Using his magisterial powers, Deputy Commissioner of Police Parminder Singh Bhandal banned the display of arms and ammunition through an order on Monday. He has also banned songs glorifying weapons and violence. He said these orders would also be applicable on across social media platforms. The order would remain in effect till March 17. TNS TWO ARRESTED WITH HEROIN A week after the MC took action against illegal encroachment on Lawrence Road, the things are back to square one. VISHAL KUMAR Tribune News Service Amritsar: The city police have arrested two persons for allegedly possessing heroin. The two suspects have been identified as Bobby and Hardev Singh of Maqboolpura locality. A case has been registered under the NDPS Act and further investigation is under way. TNS Amritsar, January 16 Barely 10 days after the Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) conducted a drive to remove illegal encroachments from the footpaths at Novelty Chowk, the situation is back to square one as the food stalls have placed chairs and tables for the customers. The AIT had seized tables, chairs and other items during an anti-encroachment drive and a kiosk owner was also booked for obstructing government servants from performing their duty. As the Novelty chowk area had become a favourite spot for food lovers, it has become prone to traffic jams. After the AIT took action, the local police too had installed barricades alongside the stretch to discourage people from parking their cars. However, a visit to the place on Monday revealed that the residents have started parking vehicles alongside the barricades further aggravating the problem. “The problem of traffic congestion has even increased presently as earlier the vehicles were parking near the footpaths and now there is a gap of at least 10 feet as the police has installed barricades,” said a shopkeeper adding that police post on the Lawrence road is nearly 70 meters from the place but the cops have failed to streamline the traffic here. The residents stated that there was no logic in taking action if the shopkeepers are allowed to encroach upon the footpaths again. “The drive by the administration had certainly yielded results and the problem of traffic congestion at the chowk was solved to a great extent. If the administration failed to take action now, the problem would increase in coming days,” said Satinder Singh, a local resident. Civic issues galore at Tarn Taran rly station Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, January 16 Instead of improving the conditions, the upgrade of Tarn Taran railway station to junction railway station has led to problems. The daily passengers had been raising their voice against the poor civic amenities at the station. They alleged that the authorities concerned were not bothered to resolve the problems being faced by the public. The poor condition of sanitation, faulty water supply to the toilets and drinking water for the passengers, defunct lighting system are major problems at the station. On the main platform, one portion of the public toilet had been lying closed. The station has no water tank thus creating sanitary problems for passengers. The benches are dirty and covered with dust. The lighting system at the goods platform was not in working condition, making it prone to theft. The station has no boundary wall leading to theft food grain during loading of food grain in trains. Poor sanitary condition, faulty water supply and defunct lighting system are major problems at the Tarn Taran railway station. Umesh Kesri, Station Master, said the post of sanitation employee was vacant since long and he had made arrangement on his own pocket. He said he himself wants the station be fourwalled for security purpose too. He added that he had sent for the repair of the faulty light system and other issues to be solved. Gurminder Singh Rataul, former member of the North- ern Railway Board, had demanded for the change of rout of Sachkhand Express No. 12715/ 12716 via Tarn Taran as it is to effect no other station as the Tangra (Jandiala Guru) via which Sachakhand Express passes was not its stoppage. Rataul said the facility would be helpful for the devotees of religious places like Sri Goindwal Sahib, Khadoor Sahib areas. Man kills neighbour after Metalled pillars installed on Rego rly overbridge verbal spat turns bloody Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Deceased’s son also injured, currently under treatment Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 16 An argument ensued after some poultry birds owned by a family at the Ajnala sub-division in Gurala village sneaked into the house of a neighbour. The heated exchange turned ugly when the neighbour assaulted the father-son duo who owned the birds with a spade. The father died on the way to the hospital due to a head injury while his son is still undergoing treatment. Even though the incident occurred three days ago, a complaint was lodged with the police only yesterday. Alice (60), the wife of the deceased, has told the police that on Friday, some chickens owned by their family entered a neighbour’s house. Musa Masih, ATTACKED WITH SPADE OVER TRIVIAL ISSUE ■ Alice (60), the wife of the deceased, told the police that on Friday, some chickens owned by their family entered a neighbour Musa Masih house. ■ When her son Emanual went to his house. He was hit on head his head with a spade by Musa. His father Gulzar intervened to save his son, but Musa hit him on the head with the spade, too. the neighbour, was livid. She said that her son Emanual went to his house and tried to pacify him. But Musa continued to hurl a stream of abuses at him. When Emanual objected to his use of abusive language, Musa picked up a spade and hit Emanual on head with it. Emanual fell down, bleeding profusely. That was when her husband Gulzar intervened to save his son, but Musa hit him on the head with the spade, too. He also started bleeding and fell to the ground. He turned unconscious. Musa fled the spot, but not without threatening to kill them all if they lodged a police complaint. Alice said that she and her daughter-in-law Kamlesh then rushed the father-son duo to hospital. Gulzar died on the way to the hospital while Emanual is still under treatment. She has claimed that out of fear they performed her husband’s last rites and buried him. She eventually decided to lodge a police complaint. Ajnala DSP Sanjiv Kumar said a case has been registered under Sections 302 and 307 of the Indian Penal Code. Musa is still at large, but further investigation is under way. Amritsar, January 16 Weeks after an iron bar was damaged after a heavy vehicle climbed over the 130 years old Rego railway overbridge (ROB), the authorities have now installed vertical metalled pillars to allow the passage of only two-wheelers and rickshaws. The iron bars were ironically installed to prevent the plying of heavy vehicles on the railway overbridge. Traffic scenario in the city has deteriorated to the extent that restrictions had to be imposed on the movement of heavy vehicles on the colonial era ROB to prevent any accident. The railway overbridge connects the GT Road with Gobindgarh Fort and is vital for the smooth flow of city’s traffic. It provides a shorter route to the commuters coming from Nawakot and Islamabad areas and villages located behind these areas to the city. Newly installed vertical metalled pillars at Rego railway overbridge in Amritsar. VISHAL KUMAR Concerned residents want the government to shoulder the responsibility timely as the ROB has long outlived its utility. Parvinder Singh, a local resident, said people risk their lives by commuting over the ROB which has potholes, cracks and fissures. He said a way to the Railway Colony also passes underneath the ROB, so the railways must shoulder the responsibility. Another resident Saurav Arora said he commutes daily over the ROB to pick and drop his children who study in a school located across the ROB. Leaders and officials must always remain aware of the fact that they are there for the welfare of the people and must reconstruct the ROB soon to avoid the occur- rence of any mishap, Arora said and added that reconstruction was long overdue. Declared unsafe years ago, concrete material of the upper surface of the ROB has been peeling off and pits have emerged at several spots. All these years, commuters have been complaining of a bumpy ride with pits and puddles while the flow of traffic has increased manifold on the ROB. Considered one of the oldest bridges in the city built by the British after the annexation of Punjab, the ROB was repaired way back in 1982. Civic body authorities refused to grant approval for deep excavation to construct the basement of commercial buildings close to the ROB as it may cause trouble to the over a century old structure. Dr Seema Sharma, Divisional Railway Manager, Ferozepur zone, assured that the railways would reconstruct the ROB. Farmers’ protest hits train service Industry rues withdrawal Police tighten noose around weapon OPERATION SUSPENDED smugglers, accomplices of gangsters of application by govt Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 16 Several trains including the Shatabdi Express arrived late and also departed behind schedule due to the 4 hour 15 minutes long rail blockade enforced by agitating farmers on the busy Amritsar-Delhi railway line near Jalandhar Cantonment. The New Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi arrived at 5 pm against its scheduled arrival time of 1:30 pm causing immense inconvenience to the passengers. Hence, it also departed nearly 1:30 hours behind its scheduled departure time. The Amritsar-Nanded Sachkhand Express also departed late from the Amritsar Operation of the prominent Amritsar-New Delhi Shan-e-Punjab was suspended for the next 10 days from today (Monda) to facilitate the civil work for the dedicated freight corridor from Sahnewal to Kolkata railway station. The Saryu-Yamuna Express, Amritsar-New Delhi Swarna Jayanti Shatabdi and Saharsa Jansadharan weekly express trains were rescheduled. The New Delhi-Amritsar Swarna Jayanti Shatabdi, Katihar Express and Amritsar-Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminal (CSMT) were diverted. Railway officials stated that six trains of the Northern Railway’s Ferozepur division were cancelled. Inconvenienced by the prolonged delay, passengers complained of weariness. A passenger Manpreet Singh said it would have been better if he had taken a bus from Jalandhar Cantonment. Since his family members comprising aged parents and small children were travelling with him, he could not afford to put them to inconvenience by changing vehicles. The sudden disruption of rail traffic always brings untold problems to passengers, said Pranav Mehra, another passenger. He said his ticket was booked for Mumbai so he did not have any other alternative but to wait at the railway station for the rail traffic to resume. MEGA TEXTILE PARK Amritsar, January 16 The statement of Union Commerce and Textile Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday that the Punjab Government withdrew the application for textile park citing unavailability of land has led to exchanging of arguments between AAP leaders and MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla. Historically, the holy city has been a hub of textile while being leader in manufacturing shawls, tweeds and blazer in the country and in warp knitting, a kind of cloth, in state. Piara Lal Seth, president, Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal (PPBM), requested the government to review its c m y b stance to allocate the textile park here. He said the Industry Department has been working extremely hard and prepared a proposal to set up the part on 400 acres of land in Ramdas. He said in entire state the apparel and textile industries in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar exports textiles and garments worth Rs 12,000 crore and logs Rs 11,639 crore turnover. Though the share of the holy city was less among the three districts but historically it was a hub of textile. This could be a godsend opportunity to revive the industry here which would job opportunities to hundreds of youth to wean away from drugs. — TNS Amritsar, January 16 The State Special Operation Cell of the Punjab Police have booked unknown operatives of gangster-terrorist nexus on charges of cross border smuggling of contraband, arms and ammunition and counterfeit currency in order to carry out nefarious activities in the border state. The accused was also involved in the targeted killings and extortion on the instructions of their handlers in Pakistan and other foreign countries, including Canada and USA. As per information, the suspect has links with foreign based gangsters and terrorists and was in contact with them with virtual numbers generated through certain mobile applications. Though the police sources confirmed the same but they were tightlipped over the issue as it could hamper investigations. A case under Sections 21, 23 ,24, 27, 29, 30, 32, 35 of the NDPS Act, Section 25 of Arms Act, 489-A, 489-B, 489C, 120 and 120-B of the IPC and Sections 3, 4, 5 of the Explosive Act and Section 66 of the Information Technology Act has been registered in this connection. The virtual numbers has become a great headache for the Punjab Police as these numbers could not be located on the telecommunication records. The city police had written to the higher authorities seeking ban on several mobile applications which were generating virtual numbers. In the FIR, the police said they received a secret information that operatives of gangsters-terrorist nexus were generating virtual numbers using various platforms available on the public domain of the internet by using fake identifications. Due to this they are out of the reach of the police and carry out their nefarious activities. According to senior police official, the FIR was a step by the police to tighten noose around unidentified operatives and accomplices of gangsterterrorist nexus using virtual number of creating law and order trouble in Punjab. — TNS