08022023-LT-01.qxd 2/8/2023 12:14 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune BUDDHA NULLAH PROJECT: OFFICIALS HAIL EFFORTS WHEN VICKY CORRECTED SHEHNAAZ GILL’S PUNJABI PRAKASH RAJ CALLS PATHAAN BOYCOTT CAMPAIGN A HOAX A delegation of Jal Shakti Ministry visits city to inspect the ongoing works under ~650 crore project. P2 Vicky had graced her chat show, Desi Vibes with Shehnaaz Gillahead of release of Govinda Naam Mera. P3 The actor-director has spoken at length about those who were threatening to boycott the flick. P4 » » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 22°C | MIN 7°C YESTERDAY MAX 24°C | MIN 8°C SUNSET WEDNESDAY 6.07 PM SUNRISE THURSDAY 7:13 AM WEDNESDAY | 8 FEBRUARY 2023 | LUDHIANA 2 hurt in clash outside court complex Field day Shots fired | Old enmity reason behind incident |Senior police officials begin probe Tribune News Service Ludhiana, February 7 Panic gripped the area around the court complex here this morning after two groups clashed over an old enmity. Two persons suffered bullet injuries in the clash and are undergoing treatment at a hospital. After the incident, senior police officials rushed to the spot for investigation. Two persons were also rounded up by the police from the spot. As per the information, the clash reportedly took place over an assault case registered at the Model Town police station on February 10, 2020, and both the parties — the complainant, Gurcharan, alias Rinku, of Abdulapur Basti with aides and accused Jaspreet, alias Sahil, of Dashmesh Nagar with aides — had come to the court with regard to the hearing in the case and when both groups came face to face, they broke into arguments and later started assaulting each other followed by firing by both parties. Jaspreet, alias Sahil, suffered bullet injuries on his chest and near the stomach while Himanshu Malhotra, an Police officials conduct probe outside the court complex in Ludhiana on Tuesday. HIMANSHU MAHAJAN BOOST SECURITY AT COURT, SAY LAWYERS ■ The firing incident outside the court complex left lawyers and visitors frightened, though it took place on the road adjoining the wall on the backside of the court. The court has many unmanned entrances where security personnel must be deployed. ■ “I was on the ground floor when I heard gunshots. This incident has revived the December 2021 bomb blast incident in the court complex. The police should deploy a patrolling team outside the court where minor scuffles or brawls take place between rival parties,” said a lawyer. aide of Gurcharan, suffered a bullet injury on his hand. After the incident, Joint CP City Saumya Mishra, Additional DCP Sameer Verma, ADCP Rupinder Bhatti along with other officials reached the spot for investigation. Even a forensic team was called to the spot, which gathered evidence including empty cartridges. Joint CP Saumya Mishra said both parties clashed outside the court. A police party immediately responded to the situation and rounded up two suspects. Two suffered bullet injuries in the incident and were admitted to hospital. “Some rumour-mongers were spreading misinformation that it was a gang war between two gangs, but in reality it was a sudden clash between the complainant and the accused in an old FIR with their aides present on the road outside the court. One of the persons also used his licenced weapon in the firing and the same will be recommended for cancellation immediately after verification,” added Saumya Mishra. Police sources revealed that Gurcharan’s friend had reportedly used his licenced weapon for firing. Himanshu and Maninder were also accompanying Gurcharan. Two persons — Gurcharan and Maninder — were rounded up by the police while cops were deployed at the hospital where two of the injured were undergoing treatment. Cross case registered The police have registered a cross case against Gurcharan, Manjinder, Deep, Lovedeep, Inderpal Singh Jandu, Mastan alias Rambo, Himanshu, Sahil and other unknown persons on the charge of attempt to murder, committing affray and other charges including under the Arms Act. Six persons — Gurcharan, Manjinder, Deep, Lovedeep, Rambo and Shamsher Bhola — have been arrested. Jandu is a Congress leader. Girls enjoy sunshine in a mustard field in Ludhiana. TRIBUNE PHOTO: HIMANSHU MAHAJAN Drug smugglers nabbed Ludhiana, February 7 The Ludhiana rural police nabbed two smugglers with heroin and intoxicating tablets from their possession in separate cases. In the first case, the police nabbed a smuggler identified as Vijay Gill, a resident of Rani Wala Khoo, Jagraon, and seized 20-gm heroin from his possession. The smuggler was on his way to deliver consignment to clients when a police party led by ASI Balwinder Singh nabbed him at a naka near Tehsil Chowk in Jagraon. ASI Balwinder said a case has been registered against the accused and further investigation was on. In another case, the police nabbed a smuggler identified as Manraj Singh of Sudhar and recovered 1,650 intoxicating tablets from his possession. Investigating officer Jarnail Singh said accused runs a medical store at Sudhar and he has also kept huge stock of intoxicating tablets in his shop. Accordingly the police party conducted a raid and recovered tablets from his shop. — TNS 2 held for looting passengers Tribune News Service Ludhiana, February 7 The Salem Tabri police on Tuesday nabbed a father-son duo who had been looting mobile phones and other valuables from passengers. Joint CP Saumya Mishra, ADCP Rupinder Sran, ACP Maninder Bedi, SHO Salem Tabri SI Harjit Singh addressed a press conference regarding the matter. The accused have been identified continued on page 2 Smuggler nabbed after hot chase Vets seek pay parity Schools find it hard to appoint women staff for students in buses Ludhiana, February 7 A team of the Ludhiana rural police nabbed a notorious smuggler after a hot chase here on Tuesday. While chasing down the smuggler, the police party also fired shots at the Creta car of the smuggler. Even one of the car tyres burst during the police firing. The smuggler was chased down after about a kilometer long hot chase. The smuggler was identified as Jagtar Singh (26), a resident of Miabaal, Phillaur. The police also recovered 50 gram of heroin from the smuggler. The smuggler also rammed his car into two cars that came on the way while fleeing and also hit a motorcyclist who suffered injuries in the accident. SSP Ludhiana rural, Har, jeet Singh told The Tribune that the police had information that smuggler Jagtar was on way to deliver the contraband to his clients in Jagraon. Ludhiana, February 7 Seeking pay parity with their fellow medical officers, veterinary officers of the Animal Husbandry Department staged a protest by wearing black badges outside the deputy director’s office here today. Dr Gagandeep Kaushal, coconvener, joint action committee of vets for pay parity, said the ongoing protest fort- night will last from February 7 to 21. He blamed that the previous Congress government had deliberately reduced the entry scale of veterinary officers from Rs 56,100 to 47,600. Protesters submitted a memorandum to the government through Animal Husbandry Deputy Director Dr Paramdeep Singh Walia and assistant director Dr Vikram Mohindra. — TNS The car used by Jagtar Singh to give cops a slip. TRIBUNE PHOTO The police had laid a naka near the Jagraon grain market where the cops signalled the smuggler to stop his car for checking, but he accelerated the car and rammed it into three police vehicles. Later, cops in three vehicles started chasing the smuggler. They had to fire at the smuggler’s car to burst a tyre. The smuggler did not fire at cops as he may not be possessing a weapon, the SSP added. The SSP said three cases of drug smuggling were already registered against him at the Hambran police station Ludhiana, Khanna police station and Patara police station. He said apart from registering a drug smuggling case against the accused, a case of attempt to murder would also be registered as he (accused) had tried to kill the cops present at the naka by ramming his car into them. — TNS Veterinary officers raise slogans during a protest. INDERJEET VERMA Mandi Ahmedgarh, Feb 7 Owners and managers at various educational institutes and transport contractors are finding it difficult to implement the government guidelines on the safety of students while they travel between their homes and institutions. Appointing women attendants has become an uphill task for educational institutes as there are few takers for the job of a woman attendant in the Malwa belt. Social stigma and unavailability of suitable educated candidates are being cited as some of the major reasons for non-implementation of the orders. Now, the traffic wing of the police assert that they have started initiating action against violators. Investigations reveal that hiring women attendants or conductors for vehicles ferrying girl students has always been an uphill task for the majority of educational institutes of the area. While girls and women of middle-class families consider it a social stigma to work as a bus attendant or a conductor along with other male employees, women from poor families, who really need a livelihood find it unmanageable as the job requires them to leave their houses early in the morning. A poor woman of Dehliz Road said she was in need of a job and was ready to work as an attendant in a bus. But she could not do so for fear of social stigma as male members of her community would not accept her sitting with drivers and conductors during idle hours of the day. Jarnail Singh, a transporter providing buses to educational institutions, said it was very difficult to appoint matriculate women to work as attendants or conductors on a regular basis. “Those available for the job do not have the required qualifications and those who fulfill the conditions are not willing to take up the job as it is ‘odd’ according to them,” said the transporter. Traffic wing in-charge Karanjit Singh Jeji said he had been coordinating with authorities at various institutions and impressed upon them to follow guidelines of the Safe Vahan Scheme in letter and spirit. “Having failed to persuade them in a normal way, we have started challaning those vehicles which ferry girl students without a woman attendant,” said Jeji. — OC Air quality commission hails dist for dip in stubble-burning cases 4 booked for thrashing man to death, hunt on Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Ludhiana, February 7 The Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) on Tuesday hailed the efforts of Ludhiana district administration in ensuring drastic cut in the stubble burning cases last year. In a record of sorts, the district had logged the lowest farm fires in three years during the Kharif, commonly known as paddy harvesting season, in 2022. The district had recorded 2,682 stubble burning cases last season, which were 54 per cent less than 5,817 incidents of crop residue that were spotted here in 2021. Also, 2022 had remained much safer than 2020 when 4,330 fire events were registered in Ludhiana. Heaping praises on the Deputy Commissioner (DC) ANNUAL STATS YEAR 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 FARM FIRES 2,682 5,817 4,330 2,532 2,481 3,239 7,697 (Source: PRSC) Surabhi Malik during the interaction with all DCs in the state in the presence of the Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua and other senior government functionaries, the CAQM chairperson Dr MM Kutty exhorted other district heads to learn from the action plan adopted by Ludhiana and replicate the same in their respective districts to check the rising menace of stubble burning. Malik briefed the CAQM chairperson about the steps taken by the district administration for crop residue management in the district. “We followed the threepronged strategy of awareness, education and enforcement to check the age-old practice of stubble burning, which showed remarkable results,” the DC shared, while stating that the entire district machinery, especially the Agriculture department, led by the Chief Agriculture Officer (CAO) Dr Amanjit Singh remained out in the fields during the entire paddy harvesting season to motivate the farmers against burning of crop residue. Malik told The Tribune that the sustained campaign against the stubble burning by way of educating the farmers and spreading awareness against the ill-effects of putting the crop residue to fire and motivating the stakeholders to adopt scientific management of paddy straw turned out to be a great success and resulted in sharp decline in the last season’s farm fires, which were not only lowest in three years but almost 54 per cent less than 5,817 crop residue burning cases reported in 2021 and around 26 per cent less than 4,330 fire events recorded here in 2020. She appreciated the efforts put in by the officials of the district administration, led by the SDMs, and those from the Agriculture Department, headed by the CAO Dr Amanjit Singh to check and control the stub- c m y b ble burning cases. “All-out efforts were made to aware and educate the farmers besides motivating and facilitating them for insitu and ex-situ paddy straw management by providing them requisite machinery and tools, which led to the desired results,” the DC said, while adding that the habitual offenders, who failed to pay heed to the repeated requests and warnings, had to be dealt with sternly for checking the environmental pollution. Divulging the statistics, compiled by the Punjab Remote Sensing Centre (PRSC) from September 15 to November 30 last, the CAO, Dr Amanjit Singh, revealed that last season’s stubble burning cases were even less than 3,239 farm fires recorded in the district in 2017 and a record high of 7,697 incidents of crop residue burning, which were spotted in Ludhiana during 2016. However, last year’s count was slightly high than 2,532 farm fires logged in the district in 2019 and 2,481 stubble burning cases reported here in 2018. While the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s home district Sangrur had remained the worst-hit with the maximum of 5,239 farm fires this season, the border district of Pathankot had turned out to be the safest with a single stubble burning case last year. “The sustained campaign against stubble burning will continue in future as well and will remain a continuous process to keep a check on environment pollution and ensure that the residents breathe clean and fresh air.” Surabhi Malik, Deputy Commissioner. CCTV IMAGES Our Correspondent Doraha, February 7 The police have booked a financier and his three accomplices for allegedly beating up a man to death on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday. The police are conducting raids to nab the accused. According to the information, a financier, Jagjit Singh Tony of Ludhiana, along with his three accomplices thrashed one of his workers, Rajan Singla (48 years), and later left him in a critical condition outside Rajwant Hospital at Doraha. The victim was later admitted to SPS Hospital where he died. The CCTV footage of the alleged accused dropping the victim is available with the police. ❝ Whereabouts of the accused are being tracked from the CCTV images available with the police and they would be behind the bars soon. ❞ Vijay Kumar, SHO, DORAHA The Doraha police have registered a case under Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC against the financier and his three accomplices. Doraha SHO Vijay Kumar said whereabouts of the accused were being tracked from the CCTV images available with the police and very soon they would be in police net. The reason for beating the man to death is still unknown to the police.