06022023-ATR-01.qxd 2/6/2023 12:02 AM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 23°C | MIN 10°C YESTERDAY MAX 24°C | MIN 8°C BEFITTING TRIBUTE, BUT FOCUS ON EDU INFRA TOO SHAH RUKH KHAN ALL PRAISE FOR TEAM JAWAN SUMBUL KHAN BIDS ADIEU TO BIGG BOSS HOUSE Churning out citizens that contribute in nation-building should be central to such decisions, say residents. P2 Shah Rukh Khan will next be seen in Jawan, collaborating with South Indian actors. P3 This Weekend Ka Vaar was hosted by Karan Johar, and Sumbul Touqeer Khan stood evicted. P4 » » » SUNSET MONDAY 6.08 PM SUNRISE TUESDAY 7:19 AM MONDAY | 6 FEBRUARY 2023 | AMRITSAR INBRIEF MAN KILLED IN ROAD MISHAP Amritsar: A man identified as Avtar Singh of Dayal Bhatti village died when a rashly driven bike hit him near Anaitpura village. While the accident took place on January 1, he succumbed in a private hospital two days later. A complaint was lodged with the police on Sarturday. Balraj Singh, son of the deceased, said he had gone to Gaggomahal village for some work. His father came out of a local gurdwara and was waiting for him near Anaitpura village. The accused was identified as Major Singh of the Bhindia Saida area, who was absconding since the incident. TNS 2 held with weapons smuggled from Pak Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 5 Acting on a tip-off, the State Special Operation Cell (SSOC) arrested two associates of Amritpal Singh, alias Amrit Bal, of the US with two pistols and 11 bullets, which were allegedly smuggled from Pakistan. Originally hailing from Bholath in Kapurthala district, Amrit Bal was allegedly involved in anti-national activities and trying to vitiate ASSOCIATES OF US-BASED ANTI-NATIONAL ■ The two associates of Amritpal Singh, alias Amrit Bal, have been identified as Sandeep Singh of Batala and Avtar Singh of Gurdaspur ■ They came in contact with Amrit Bal through social media. He recruited them to carry out criminal activities in Punjab ■ The police said Bal had recruited several persons for carrying out targeted killings and other anti-national activities. Further probe is on peace and harmony in Punjab, the police said. Those arrested have been identified as Sandeep Singh of Nangal village in Batala and Avtar Singh of Jogi Cheema village in Gurdaspur. They were roaming 1 NABBED WITH 18-GM HEROIN Amritsar: The police have arrested a person identified as Amandeep Singh of Manawala village for allegedly possessing 18-gm heroin. A case under the NDPS Act was registered against him. He was produced in a court and brought on police remand for further probe. TNS against him, including that of murder, snatching and theft, and Sandeep was involved in a robbery case. They came in contact with Amrit Bal through social media. He recruited them to carry out criminal activities in different parts of Punjab. The police said Bal had recruited several persons for carrying out targeted killings and other antinational activities. Further investigation is under way. Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 5 The police arrested a drunk e-rickshaw driver, who created a ruckus on city roads and hit several commuters. The incident occurred at Lawrence Road Chowk where he left the passengers abruptly on the road. When a cop asked him about this, he sped away from the spot jumping the traffic light and Ex-councillors not satisfied with new delimitation of MC wards Tribune News Service THREE PHONES SEIZED IN JAIL Amritsar: The Amritsar central jail authorities confiscated three mobile phones, 12 bundles of cigarettes and seven packets of tobacco from inside the jail premises. They were found lying unclaimed during a search operation by the jail staff. The police have registered a case against unidentified persons. TNS in the Vallah area here on a bike when they were intercepted by an SSOC team yesterday. During the search, the police recovered two .32 bore pistols, 11 bullets and a motorcycle from their possession. A case has been registered under Sections 120 and 120-B of the IPC and Section 25 of the Arms Act. According to the police, the duo has a criminal background. Avtar has six criminal cases registered e-rickshaw driver held for rash driving Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal (3L) inaugurates sheds in grain markets on Sunday. TRIBUNE PHOTO Infrastructure at grain markets will be upgraded, says Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 5 Cabinet Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said infrastructure at grain markets in the district would be upgraded. Dhaliwal inaugurated the work of installing steel sheds at four grain markets in Sudhar, Awan, Gagomahal and Chamiari villages of Ajnala. Dhaliwal said sheds at each of the four grain markets would cost Rs 84 lakh and these would prevent damage to the agricultural produce lying in the markets from rain. He said earlier, farmers had to face a lot of trouble due to unexpected showers and the unsold crop was drenched in markets which resulted in discolouration and hence a drop in market price. The minister stated that the Ajnala constituency would be developed as a model constituency and facilities such as modern “Sath”, Panchayat Ghar and veterinary clinics would be constructed in every village. He said the governments should not interfere in religious matters and continued on page 2 Amritsar, February 5 Former councillors are not satisfied with the delimitation boundaries of the new wards in the city. However, the Department of Local Government has not issued the draft notification of delimitation yet. As per the process, after the completion of the survey, the MC submitted the report to the Department of Local Government. Now, the government will issue a draft notification regarding new boundaries. After that, the MC will get the objections and suggestions of political leaders and residents. The MC will address the objections and make changes as per the suggestions. Then the government will issue the final notice. The former councillors stated that the government was supposed to conduct the TWO BOOKED FOR DUPING WOMAN Tarn Taran, February 5 A person belonging to downtrodden section has been running from pillar to post to trace his teenage daughter, who has allegedly been abducted by some influential persons, for over the last four months. Sharing his tale of woes here on Sunday, Resham Singh of Singhpura (Bhikhiwind area), complainant and father of the missing girl, said AAP leader from Patti Parveen Kumar As per the process, after the completion of the survey, the MC submitted the report to the Department of Local Government. Now, the government will issue a draft notification regarding new boundaries. elections before the end of the term of the General House. The term ended on March 21. The state government had initiated delimitation of wards in June 2022. During the last eight months, the government failed to complete the delimitation of wards. “Now when they released the map of boundaries to the councillors, we found that the delimitation was not conducted in a proper manner. No former councillor is satisfied with the delimitation. Ironically, some areas which are out of the MC’s jurisdiction are also included in the new boundaries of wards. Cantonment area should not be part of the MC as they have a separate board,” said Raman Bakshi, former senior deputy mayor. One of the major objections is a disparity between populations of wards. Some wards have 14,000 voters and some have only 3,500. The reservation of ward for women councillors is also not conducted as per the odd/even pattern. Last time all odd wards were reserved for women, but this time even wards should be reserved. The councillors are submitting their objections to the MC officials, but they are unable to rectify the errors as the government has not issued draft notification of delimitation. The MC will amend the boundaries and number of wards only after the government issues the draft notification. Man booked for cheating Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, February 5 The city police have booked Naushehra Pannuan resident Pargat Singh for taking a cash amount of Rs 2.17 lakh on the pretext of paying the amount as bribe to two police inspectors three months back. The police said that the accused had taken the bribe amount from Gursharan Singh Joni of Naushehra Pannuan, who was looking for some favour for his son Gurpreet Singh Gopi. Gopi was booked by the city police four months back in connection with a firing incident outside an IELTS centre near the Tarn Taran bus stand. One person was injured in the incident. Gurpreet Singh was booked under Section 307 of the IPC and under the Arms Act. Inspector Harpreet Singh had registered a case and Inspector Prabhjit Singh was investigating the case. continued on page 2 Man runs pillar to post in search of his daughter Amritsar: The Chheharta police have booked two persons, identified as Paramjit Singh and his wife Bhottu, for allegedly duping a local resident, Manjit Kaur. The complainant has alleged that the accused took Rs 7.5 lakh from her on the pretext of getting an FIR registered against her son cancelled. A case has been registered against the couple under Sections 420 and 120-B of the IPC. TNS GOVT TO ISSUE DRAFT NOTIFICATION violating norms. The cop chased him on a bike of an eyewitness. He managed to escape after leaving his erickshaw behind. He was identified as Karanvir Singh, alias Karan, of Inderpuri Abadi near 22 number railway crossing here. The police said a case under Section 279 of the IPC and Section 184 of the Motor Vehicles Act was registered against him. continued on page 2 Patti police book AAP leader, wife among four who are at large and his wife Kiran Kaur, Sema of Mallowal village and Sachin Bhasin of Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh) were booked by the Patti police. He said he came in contact with the accused through his relatives. The accused assured him of getting his daughter work. On being lured by them, he handed over his teenage daughter to Parveen Kumar and his wife Kiran Kaur in July last year in Patti town. They arranged to send his daughter to Bareilly with Sachin Kumar. Resham Singh said he received a mobile call from his daughter from Bareilly on September 20 last year. She was asking him to take her back from Bareilly. He said after that her mobile was switched off and she could not be contacted. He went to Patti to meet Parveen Kumar and his wife Kiran Kaur to take back his daughter, but they kept dilly-dallying on doing the needful in this regard. continued on page 2 Civic body amends rules to rein in parking mafia PARKING PANGS – V WHY PARKING RULES CHANGED Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 5 The Amritsar Municipal Corporation has reduced the rates of parking lots with no one evincing interest in bidding after the Covid-19 pandemic. Even after holding e-bids again and again, nine parking lots do not have a contractor. The Municipal Corporation again issued the e-auction bid for these nine parking lots yesterday and also reduced the reserve price of parking stands which have not been operational for a long time. The e-auction bid of the parking stands will have to be submitted by the contractors till February 9. This time, the MC opened bids for parking lots at Mata Kaulan Hospital, Amandeep Hospital, Telephone Exchange, District Library, Rani Ka Bagh to Uppal Hospital, outside State Bank to Hotel Park, outside Saroop Rani Col- ■ Parking mafia used to bag the contract at high bidding price ■ The influential used to get contracts by paying the first installment ■ After collecting parking fee and overcharging for a year, they did not pay pending installments ■ The MC would blacklist the contractor ■ Next year, same persons would get the contract in some other name << Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay market in Amristar. TRIBUNE PHOTO lege to Cantonment Chowk, parking lot of Municipal Corporation Office, Ranjit Avenue, outside New DTO office, near Celebration Mall, Link Road, Machhi Mandi, KD Hospital and Chhachi Hospital to Karam Singh ward. Except for the parking at MC’s head office, all other parking lots are on the roadside, where commuters park their vehicles as they have to visit some place. Observing the revenue opportunities, the MC had started charging for parking on the roads. Earlier, there was a parking mafia that used to bag the contract to run the parking lots at high bidding price. The politically influential used to get these contracts by paying the first install- ment of the total bidding amount. After collecting the high parking fee and overcharging for the parking for a year, they did not pay the pending installments. At the end of the year, the MC used to blacklist the contractor. Next year, the same persons would get the contract in some other name. Estate Officer Dharminder- c m y b jit Singh amended the rules and now the parking contractors have to pay 50 per cent of the total amount in advance, 25 per cent bank guarantee and 25 per cent security deposit. Only genuine parking contractors can participate in the bidding and get the parking lot at genuine rates. This is why the MC has revised the price. A consumer refills petrol in his motorcycle at a fuel station in Amritsar on Sunday. PHOTO: SUNIL KUMAR Hike in prices of milk, fuel add to financial burden of common man Stretch family budget, add to input cost of farmers Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 5 Hike in prices of essential commodities like milk, petrol and diesel has burnt a hole in the pocket of the common man. They complain that each commodity costs a quarter of the entire monthly family budget. Rise in the cost of both milk and fuel is bound to stretch the family budget. Both Verka and Amul hiked the price of a litre of milk by Rs 3 and the government imposed 90 paise more VAT on petrol and diesel. People from all walks of life are upset at the hike which has upset their budget. Farmers and industrialists found the hike resulting in a rise in their input cost. Priya, a homemaker, said the proportion of fuel and milk cost were the same in the budget of a family now. The monthly fuel cost of a normal family with two vehicles is between Rs 3,500 to Rs 4,000 and the bill of milk supplies for the same duration costs similarly. Harmeet Singh, employed with a private company, said no longer is there any coherence between inflation on essential commodities and wages. Salaries have not been rising steadily for the past five years due to external intervention. For example, introduction of GST, demonetisation and the Covid-19 induced lockdown only contributed to a rise in inflation. The government’s priorities shifted. Instead of protecting the marginalised, they pre- ferred to back corporate houses. This budget gave some respite to the salaried class from taxes. Harjit Singh, a farmer from Fateh Rajputan village, said the input cost in farming was set to go up owing to high fuel prices. He said barring petrol and diesel, the entire trade activity was brought under the ambit of the GST by the Central government. Constant upward trend in prices has upset their calculations. Industrialists are of the view that any rise in the cost of diesel would add to their input cost. Though they were not hiking the cost of any products, they stated that ultimately the burden would fall on consumers and would adversely impact their competitiveness in the market.