31012023-JTR-01.qxd 1/31/2023 12:31 AM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar tribune CONG MLA HENRY’S AIDE, 2 EX-COUNCILLORS JOIN AAP INJURED ACTOR RANDEEP HOODA TURNS WRITER SUSHMITA SEN IS BACK ON SETS OF AARYA SEASON 3 MLA Bawa Henry’s aide Nirmaljit Singh Nimma and two ex-councillors on Monday joined AAP. P2 Actor Randeep Hooda, who is currently recovering from an injury, is using his time to explore the writer in him. P3 Actress Sushmita Sen feels that her web series Aarya has become synonymous with her name. P4 » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 18°C | MIN 9°C YESTERDAY MAX 18°C | MIN 8°C SUNSET TUESDAY 5.58 PM SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 7:13 AM » TUESDAY | 31 JANUARY 2023 | JALANDHAR INBRIEF Key demands met, protesters Caught on camera: Robbers snatch cellphone from 2 girls lift dharna at Lakhanpal village Tribune News Service Admn gives ~5L to deceased activist’s kin, promises job Aparna Banerji FLOURISHING DRUG TRADE Tribune News Service A bus driver with a sword at Balachaur toll plaza. PVT BUS DRIVER WAVES SWORD Jalandhar: A private bus driver allegedly got into a verbal fight with an employee working at a toll plaza in Balachaur. The fight got so intense that the driver allegedly took out his sword and threatened to attack the employee. A video in this regard has also been going viral. The employee said that he registered a complaint against the driver at Kathgarh police station too. “He (the driver) got angry because it took me some time to make a car driver understand something. This made the bus driver angry,” he alleged. TNS SEIZED DRUGS DESTROYED Nakodar: The Jalandhar rural police on Monday destroyed drugs seized under various police stations under the NDPS Act. SSP Swarandeep Singh, said the drugs seized in 145 cases were destroyed in a fire on the premises of the Green Plant Energy Private Limited in Bir Pind village. He said the destroyed drugs included 2,386 kg and 400 gm of poppy husk, 4 kg and 894 gm of heroin, 3 kgand 401 gm of intoxicating powder, 6 kg and 500 gm of ganja, 13 gm of smack, 1,285 intoxicating injections, 9,779 intoxicating tablets, 2,750 intoxicating capsules, five syringes, five needles, four intoxicating vials and four empty vials. OC Jalandhar, January30 Residents of Lakhanpal and neighbouring villages today lifted their dharna from the Jandiala-Phagwara road after the district administration agreed to address the demands of villagers, who had been protesting ever since the brutal murder of Nasha Virodhi Front actvist and AAP leader Ram Gopal on Saturday night. The last rites of Ram Gopal were also conducted at the village today amid the presence of the key district administration, police officials as well as political leaders. The dharna was lifted after the district administration agreed to the key demands raised by the family members of the deceased and residents of Lakhanpal. While the Jalandhar DC handed over a cheque for Rs 5 lakh to the family as Members of the Nasha Virodhi Front and village residents had been on dharna since Sunday, alleging that activist Ram Gopal was attacked for speaking out against the drug trade in his village. As many as 60 villages, which were fed up with the drug menace, formed the front only four months ago. demanded, a resolution was also passed by the panchayat that the Government Primary School, Lakhanpal, will be renamed as Shaheed Ram Gopal, Government Primary School, Lakhanpal, after the deceased. Members of the administration also agreed to the demand to provide a government job to a family member of the deceased and the provision of security to Ram Gopal’s family. Meanwhile, as the police still remain on the lookout for the four of the six booked for the murder, Ram Gopal’s families and associates lifted the dharna after the administration and the DCP assured them of nabbing the remaining absconders soon. On Sunday, the police arrested Radhey Shyam, the former sarpanch of Lakhanpal village (whose wife is the current sarpanch of the village) as well as an associate, Binder, for Ram Gopal’s murder. Makhan Singh, sarpanch of the neighbouring Jandiala village and a long time associate of Ram Gopal said,“Not one but several times, we gave repeated complaints to the DC, Police Commissioner and other key officials that we could be harmed in view of repeated threats to Ram Gopal and the Nasha Virodhi Front by drug peddlers and men who had been threatening us. The key accused, Radhey Shyam, was among these men. We lifted the dharna today after the administration and police accepted the family’s key demands. The officials have also promised security to the family. We now await the arrest of the remaining four persons, who murdered Ram Gopal. Our activities under the Nasha Virodhi Front to root out drug abuse from the region will continue.” Jalandhar Cantt MLA Pargat Singh, AAP leaders Surinder Singh Sodhi and Rajwinder Kaur along with key district administration Continued on page 2 VIDEO GOES VIRAL; COPS LAUNCH MANHUNT In the CCTV footage, which is going viral on social media, three masked unidentified persons could be seen stopping their bike outside the park where the victims were standing. While one of the snatchers kept sitting on the bike with the engine on, the other two robbers stood nearby to the victims. Before the girls could raise an alarm, they snatched the cellphone and fled the spot. Three bike-borne snatchers who targeted girls standing outside a park at Surya Enclave in Jalandhar on Monday. TRIBUNE PHOTO SHO Ajaib Singh of the Rama Mandi police station said the police were trying to trace the robbers. He said no official complaint from the victim has been received so far, however, on the basis of the CCTV footage that’s going viral, they have started a probe. “We are trying to gather more clues, the CCTV footage is being scrutinised, and the accused will be arrested soon,” he added. Only 10,500 UID No. plates installed at houses Four arrested for ~48-cr GST fraud Aakanksha N Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Jalandhar, January 30 A month ago, the process of the installation of unique identification (UID) number plates on the taxable properties kicked off in the city. The main aim of the project is bringing transparency in property tax collection. The project was first mentioned in 2016, but for years, it continued to hang fire. Now that it has been started, it remains to be seen if it would be completed on time or not. The process is already moving at a snail’s pace. The cur- TARGET: 1 LAKH PROPERTIES TILL MARCH 31 Officials install a UID number plate at a house in Jalandhar. FILE rent target is to cover 1 lakh properties till March 31, but only 10,500 of them have been covered so far. A private company has been roped in for the completion of the project, but only 10 employees have been working at the moment. The civic body, however, has asked the company to increase the number of employees so that work on the project could be expedited. As per the information, the city was divided in 20 sectors according to a survey done by a company in 2016. According Rain adds to woes of Latifpura oustees Water seeps into tents at demolition site, making living conditions miserable Puddles around tents following rain at the demolition site in Latifpura on Tuesday; and oustees show the water that seeped into their tent. Tribune News Service PARTIES TO FEEL THE HEAT IN LS BYPOLL Jalandhar, January30 Several families have been staying in tents at Latifpura ever since their homes were demolished over a month ago. The rain for the past two days has brought face trouble for the oustees as water seeped into some of the tents, making the living conditions miserable. Awaiting rehabilitation and battling inclement weather, members of the Latifpura Jalandhar, January 30 In a daring daylight snatching incident, two girls sitting on their Activa outside a park here were robbed of a mobile phone by three unidentified bike-borne persons this afternoon. The incident took place outside a community park based at Surya Enclave residential locality. The entire incident has been captured on a CCTV camera installed nearby. Organisations backing the Latifpura Morcha said the angst of these residents would also be felt in the Lok Sabha bypoll necessitated by the untimely demise of Jalandhar MP Santokh Chaudhary Mur Waseba Morcha and ousted residents have declared that they would gherao the residence of AAP MLA Sheetal Angural on February 2. Organisations backing the Latifpura Morcha also said the angst of these residents would also be felt in the bypoll necessitated by the untimely demise of Jalandhar MP Santokh Chaudhary. Latifpura residents Baljinder Kaur and Rajinder said they had to spend the nights without sleep as due to the heavy rain yesterday and Continued on page 2 TRIBUNE PHOTOS Area bigwig in trouble Jalandhar, January 30 Having already lodged an FIR against a rice sheller of Sultanpur Lodhi who had got fake registries done in Latifpura, the district administration and the police are set to tighten noose around the family of another bigwig who had occupied 20 marlas in the area. After Dinesh Dhir, the administration has decided c m y b to cancel the ration supplies to the family of Harjinder Singh Bajwa. His brother Mohinder Singh Bajwa, too, had encroached upon 20 marlas of land at the site and is already under scanner for owning 22 kanals in Singh village along Nakodar road and seeking compensation from the government. Continued on page 2 to the survey that was carried out seven years ago, the city has above two lakh properties, of which around 1,75,000 properties are taxable ones. Last year, the Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company had started a survey ‘again’ to check if there is any update on the survey work done in 2016. Until now, the survey of just 10 sectors were completed and work on the remaining ones is still pending. The MC officials said the process has been taking this long because verification is under way. Population up by 50,000 in 32 wards: Resurvey Jalandhar, January 30 It was in December last year when a survey report of the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation mentioned that “the city population has come down from 9,16,735 in 2011 to 8,75,000 in 2022”. Finding faults, a resurvey was ordered. As per the reports, the survey of 32 wards got completed today and it is reported that there is an increase in the population by more than 50,000 in these wards. However, the final report is expected to come out on Tuesday. A private agency was specially hired for the work and as many as 72 employees were working daily and visiting door-to-door to carry out the survey. The city is expected to have 85 wards now. The survey was done ahead of the MC elections that are scheduled to be held next year. — TNS Tribune News Service Chandigarh, January30 In a major operation against tax evaders, the GST wing of the Taxation Department, Punjab, on Monday arrested four persons for a fraud of Rs 48 crore from Jalandhar. The accused were allegedly running fake firms related to iron scrap and had obtained GST registrations only to claim input tax credit (ITC) fraudulently by issuing only invoices without the supply of actual goods. A spokesperson for the Taxation Department said accused Pankaj Kumar, was allegedly running firms PK Trading Co, Gagan Trading Co, Krrish Trading Co, Balaji Trading Co, Krrish Enterprises and Pankaj Scrap Company. Another accused, Ravinder Singh, was allegedly running Guru HarRai Trading Co. The third accused, Gurvinder Singh, was allegedly running Shiv Shakti Enterprises, and the fourth accused, Amirtpal Singh, was running North Vogue. They all were arrested and produced before the magistrate and sent to the judicial custody. He said all four accused are the residents of Jalandhar. The spokesperson further said an initial investigation was conducted on PV Interior Decor, Jalandhar, which further led to the investigation of Dasmesh Trading Co, Gur Har Rai Trading Co, Krrish Trading Co, Shiv Shakti Enterprise, Balaji Trading Co, Pankaj Scrap Co, Gagan Trading Co and North Vogue Co. “All these firms were involved in a RAN FAKE FIRMS The accused were allegedly running fake firms related to iron scrap and had obtained GST registrations only to claim input tax credit (ITC) fraudulently by issuing only invoices without the supply of actual goods. nexus of fake non-functioning firms, which availed, utilised and passed the fraudulent ITC to actual beneficiaries,” he added. The spokesperson added that these persons were only showing circular trading of iron and plastic scrap and in lieu of that they were issuing fake invoices and generating fake e-way bills on scooters, motorcycles, cars, vans, tractors and on fake vehicles having no records. He said these persons were passing on the bogus ITC to the other than end taxpayers who adjusted their tax liabilities rather than paying the same, thus defrauding the state exchequer. The operation to catch the culprits was held under the directions of Vikas Partap, Fianace Commissioner (Taxation), and Kamal Kishor Yadav, Commissioner, Taxation, and was supervised by Ravneet Khurana, Additional Commissioner State Tax (Audit), and Viraj S Tidke, Additional Commissioner State Tax-1 (Investigation). One held with 20 boxes of illicit liquor Jalandhar, January 30 The CIA staff on Monday nabbed a smuggler and seized 20 boxes of illicit liquor from him. The police said they were conducting a routine check near Hoshiarpur road when they received a tip-off regarding Rohit, Ankit and Jatinder Sharma, all residents of Mahindru Mohalla, — who were involved in the sale of illicit liquor. A team of the police subsequently conducted a raid and arrested Rohit from the spot, said police officials, adding that 10 boxes each of Royal Stag whiskey and First Choice whiskey were also recovered from his car. The car has been impounded, and a case has been registered against them. — TNS