25012023-ATR-01.qxd 1/25/2023 12:10 AM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST GENERALLY CLOUDY MAX 17°C | MIN 9°C YESTERDAY MAX 18°C | MIN 6°C ALIA BHATT SHOWERES PRAISES ON HER HUSBAND NAATU NAATU SONG MAKES IT TO OSCARS NOMINATIONS ANIRUDDH DAVE DISCUSSES IMPENDING RECESSION Alia praised Ranbir Kapoor after the trailer launch of his upcoming movie Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar. P3 SS Rajamouli’s magnum opus RRR has made it to official Oscars nominations. P3 Actor Aniruddh Dave recently shared his opinion on the impending recession. P4 » » » SUNSET WEDNESDAY 5.57 PM SUNRISE THURSDAY 7:27 AM WEDNESDAY | 25 JANUARY 2023 | AMRITSAR Youth dies in road mishap Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 24 A youth died while his sister was seriously injured in Bhakha Tara Singh village when a speeding car hit their bike yesterday. The deceased has been identified as Sukhmanpreet Singh. His injured sister Muskanpreet Kaur was admitted to the hospital. The unknown driver of the car fled the spot. A case has been registered against him. Sarabjit Singh, an eyewitness of the incident told the police that yesterday he was at the Bhakha Tara Singh service station when a speeding car hit a bike. Sukhmanpreet, who lives in his village, was driving the bike while his sister Muskanpreet was riding pillion. The two were taken to a private hospital. Doctors declared Sukhmanpreet dead while his sister Muskanpreet was admitted for treatment. The police have registered a case under Sections 304-A, 279, 337 and 338 of the IPC. Ex-DC Khaira to get ECI award Amritsar, January 24 The Election Commission of India has selected former Deputy Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Khaira for the National Awards-2022 for best electoral practices. Khaira, who was district electoral officer for 2022 Punjab poll, will be given the award for accessible elections, under the Project Samman, launched last year. Under the project, three categories of voters were targeted — first time voters, senior citizens and voters with disabilities. Young voters were approached and identified by BLOs. The arrangements were made for 49,249 voters above 80 years of age and 14,918 voters with special needs in the district. First-time voters were felicitated with appreciation certificates and their pictures were clicked at polling booths. — TNS MC House dissolved, Rishi appointed administrator Charanjit Singh Teja ROUTINE WORK UNHAMPERED Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 24 The General House of the Municipal Corporation was dissolved on Monday. All 85 councillors including Mayor Karamjit Singh Rintu, Senior Deputy Mayor Raman Bakshi and Deputy Mayor Younis Kumar are no longer on any official position in the House. They are not able to exercise the powers which were earlier given to them under the Punjab Municipal Act. Municipal Commissioner Sandeep Rishi took charge as administrator of the General House. He will exercise all powers to approve resolutions and send it to the government. The resolutions regarding development and delimitation of wards would get approval from the MC Commissioner. ❝ The routine functioning of the House would not be disrupted. The MC Commissioner would work as administrator and approve the proposals of civil works. The complaints and maintenance works would be handled by our field staff. The practice would continue until the new House of public representatives gets elected — Daljit Singh, SECRETARY, MUNICIPAL CORPORATION The MC officials and staff are now preparing proposals for development work and get approval from the MC Commissioner instead of General House. In the absence of public representation in General House, the general public would face inconvenience in some of the official works. There are several documents which need attestation of the area councillor for the applicant. The former councillors would not be able to attest the documents and give testimony. Apart from this, the residents often complain to the area councillor about the choking of sewer line, water contamination, dysfunctional streetlights and other civic issues. Now the MC’s field staff have to address the problems of residents directly Illegal parking irks commuters Illegally parked vehicles on a stretch along Trillium Mall in Amritsar on Tuesday. VISHAL KUMAR traffic police manning the road are taking any action against the owners who parked their vehicles while visiting the mall leading to congestion and chaos on roads to nearby localities. The moot question is why this blatant violation of the ‘no parking’ rule is being allowed under the nose of law enforcing agencies? The nearby liquor store serving open liquor on roads adds to the woes of residents who have to face traffic jams to reach their residences. The traffic police need to book violators encroaching upon public roads. Man killed over minor dispute Intoxicants seized Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, January 24 Baljinder Singh (38), a resident of Jatta village, was killed with sharp-edged weapons by his neighbours on Monday night in his native village over a minor dispute. The Sarhali police have booked seven persons in this regard. The accused have been Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 24 The stretch along Trillium Mall known as VR Ambarsar on the Circular road is dotted with illegal parking. Though ‘No Parking’ signboards are displayed, neither the Mall authorities nor the identified as Sarabjit Singh, Satnam Singh, Harjit Singh, Karajdeep Singh, Randeep Singh, Ranjit Singh and Sukhi. The victim, Baljinder Singh, and his wife Prabhjot Kaur, had rushed to Sarabjit’s residence that night as he had been quarrelling with his wife. Soon after they returned to their house, the accused showed up at their residence with sharpedged weapons. Baljinder was attacked brutally, which left him seriously injured. He was taken to a private hospital in Rasulpur village. He succumbed to his injuries soon after he was admitted to the hospital. Sarhali SHO Sukhbir Singh rushed to the spot on being informed about the incident. The SHO said a case has been registered under Sections 302,452, 148 and 149 of the IPC. Amritsar, January 24 Beas police have arrested two persons with 9,000 intoxicant tablets. They were identified as Khazandas and Ramanjit Singh, residents of Kuhatwind Hindua village. The police recovered 5,000 tablets from Khazandas and 4,000 tablets from Ramanjit Singh. A case under Section 22-C and 25 of the NDPS Act was registered against them. Further investigation was in progress. — TNS 12-year-old city boy to receive bravery award Saved people from landslide by alerting them during his visit to Amarnath shrine Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 24 City’s Azaan Kapoor (12) is among the three children from Punjab who have been selected for National Bravery Award this year. He has been invited to the Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh on January 26. Talking to Amritsar Tribune, his father Sunil Kapoor, grandson of Wasso Mal Kapoor, who was martyred during the Jallian- Azaan Kapoor wala Bagh massacre, said Azaan saved people from landslide by quickly alerting them during his visit to Amarnath shrine last year. The incident occurred on July 31 night when all devotees were having langar on their way back from the cave shrine of Amarnath. Before that day, it had been raining for the past four days. At 8 pm, when Azaan was near a tent at Baltal, he noticed the heavy flow of water in the rivulet. He also heard the movement of boulders rolling down from nearby peaks. He rushed inside the tent and raised an alarm. It alerted the security forces and they immediately evacuated devotees at nearly 3 am. Azaan’s family had gone on pilgrimage under the aegis of Amarnath Sewa Mandal. Sunil narrated the incident to former deputy speaker Prof Darbari Lal. He wrote a letter to the deputy commissioner suggesting Azaan’s name for the bravery award. c m y b ❞ Daljit Singh, Secretary, Municipal Corporation, said, “The routine functioning of the House would not be disrupted. The MC Commissioner would work as administrator and approve the proposals of civil works. The complaints and maintenance works would be handled by our field staff. The practice would continue until the new House of public representatives gets elected.” Elderly man killed in scuffle Amritsar, January 24 Jagir Singh (70), a resident of Gurdaspur, died at a private hospital yesterday after sustaining injuries in a scuffle in Johal Pandher village a week ago. The police have booked two persons — Hardev Singh and his father Jagtar Singh — in this regard. Satinder Singh, the son of the deceased, told the police that he had gone to the Soni Palace in Fatehgarh Churian with some family members on January 16 to attend a wedding. His father Jagir Singh and his uncle Nirmal Singh, on the other hand, were in Johal Pandher village. The following day, he was informed that his father had been admitted to a private hospital. When his father regained consciousness on January 18, he told his son that Hardev Singh and his father Jagtar Singh, who were relatives of Nirmal Singh’s daughter-inlaw, had thrashed him. Jagtar fell unconscious again. Later on January 22, he succumbed to his injuries. — TNS Aujla protests outside RPO Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 24 Member of Parliament from Amritsar Gurjeet Singh Aujla today held a protest outside the regional passport office (RPO) and alleged massive corruption in issuance of passports, advancement of appointment dates and the indifferent attitude of officials towards applicants. Aujla alleged that corruption and harassment of applicants has increased massively since NK Shil took charge as Regional Passport Officer (RPO), Amritsar. He claimed that Shil was contacted directly by him and also by the DC, but he declined to listen to us. Aujla claimed that during previous RPO’s tenure, hundreds of issues related to applicants were resolved with the intervention by the office of MP . Today, a memorandum was submitted to Minister for External Affairs through Deputy Commissioner Amritsar. ADC (G) Surinder Singh received the memorandum from Aujla at the protest site. He stated that an aggressive campaign will be launched against RPO, Amritsar, and MEA top brass at New Delhi if NK Shil doesn’t mend his ways. In his letter to the Minister for External Affairs, MP Aujla MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla during a protest in Amritsar on Tuesday. gave reference of his previous complaints regarding issues being faced by public in applying and getting passport services at Regional Passport Office, Amritsar (RPO). “I have mailed on January 10, 2023 to Minister for External Affairs and Minister of State for External Affairs and sent another letter on Jan 19, 2023 to Lok Sabha Privileges Committee through Speaker, Lok Sabha. Amritsar RPO has always been an epicentre of corruption due to the mafia embedded among the staff itself. However, it escalated since NK Shil has taken the charge of RPO-Amritsar on December 14, 2022. I tried to communicate with Shil via the office of Speaker of Lok Sabha but he did not bother to reply to the calls and mes- Vehicle lifters’ gang busted, 3 arrested Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 24 The city police have nabbed three members of a gang that lifts vehicles, and recovered 14 twowheelers from their possession. They had stolen these vehicles from different parts of the city. Those arrested have been identified as Gaganpreet Singh of Tarn Taran, Lovepreet Singh and Yaadwinder Singh of Bhikhiwind (Tarn Taran). Parveen Kumar, the incharge of the Kabir Park police chowki said that the police had held a naka under a cordon-and-search operation two days ago, and arrested Gaganpreet Singh with a stolen bike. His accomplice Lovepreet had escaped from the spot at that time. He said that the interrogation of Gaganpreet led to the seizure of two motorcycles and a scooter from his possession. He was later sent to judicial remand. Raids to arrest the absconding youth are under way. The police nabbed Lovepreet and his accomplice Yadwinder Singh with two bikes in a raid. It further led to the seizure of seven bikes and two scooters from different places. A total of 11 bikes and three scooters were confiscated from them. sages,” alleged Aujla. Due to the delay in passport services, the discontentment and anguish among the applicants is rising creating issues for public representatives as well as district administration. “I request the MEA to intervene into the matter and consider opening more Passport Suvidha Kendras (PSK), especially in Amritsar, appointing public-friendly RPOs/ARPOs, bringing RPO under review of district development coordination and monitoring committees (DISHA),” added Aujla. When contacted, NK Shil was not available for comment as he was reportedly in New Delhi to receive an award for the Amritsar RPO from Meenakshi Lekhi, Minister of State for External Affairs and Culture of India. Farmers seek probe in sugar mill pollution Tarn Taran, January 24 Leaders of various farmers unions affiliated with the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha have submitted a memorandum to the district administration. They have demanded a probe into complaints pertaining to the pollution caused by the Rana Sugar Mills, Lauhuka. The unions have also demanded that the Cooperative Sugar Mills, Sheron, — which has been shut for several years — be reopened. The memorandum was received by District Revenue Officer (DRO) Aditiya Gupta in the absence of the Deputy Commissioner. Kaumi Kisan Union leader Tarsem Singh Lohar led the leaders of the farmers unions. — OC Traffic police need encroachment-free roads, personnel to regulate flow of traffic PK Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 24 A population of over 15 lakh, manifold increase in the number of vehicles, swelling number of tourists and just 220 cops to handle vehicular traffic! This is the current scenario in the holy city. The traffic police is not only struggling with a shortage of staff, but is also ill-equipped to handle traffic chaos that has become the order of the day in different parts of the city. The situation gets aggravated during school timings when students leave the schools. If the officials are to be believed, they have a requirement of around 400 cops to deal with traffic jams on various roads but currently they just have half the strength required. “We feel helpless with the current staff strength. The people are non-cooperative when it comes to following traffic norms in letter and spirit. We also don’t have enough equipment for handling traffic chaos,” said a police official who preferred anonymity. At present, we have just two tow-away vans, that too borrowed from the Municipal Corporation, while we need at least 10 such vans to remove wrongly parked vehicles, he said adding that they have a limited number of wheel clamps for wrongly parked cars. Also, the traffic police have just 10 body cameras for the traffic cops which are yet to be made available to them, he added. Another police official said there were no proper signboards for no-parking zones and areas in the city. Further, traffic signals at various chowks were not properly working and the department has written to the civic authorities a number of times to get them repaired, but there was no significant response. Recently, Punjab Police announced to start e-challan system under the smart city project for nailing traffic offenders, but it remains a distant dream. Under the smart city project, the work of installing sophisticated CCTV cameras were yet to be installed at several points. Sensors were also yet to be synchronised with these cameras. Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Amandeep Kaur said the department has written to the police commissioner for reinforcement of force. “We have demanded around 90 more cops for streamlining traffic in the city. We have also taken up the issue of tow-way vans and other equipment with the senior authorities,” the ADCP (Traffic) said. She, however, expressed her displeasure over the attitude of those who disregard traffic norms. “First give us roads for regulating traffic. The roads have been encroached upon by shopkeepers, vendors and haphazard parking. If every department concerned does its work properly, we won’t have such mess on roads. People should also cooperate in streamlining the traffic by following rules,” she pointed out.