09022023-JTR-01.qxd 2/9/2023 12:20 AM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar tribune DRIVE TO MAKE BHANGI CHOE GARBAGE-FREE BEGINS TOM CRUISE PUTTING FILM PROJECTS ON HOLD RAKHI SAWANT FILES FIR AGAINST HUSBAND ADIL Cabinet Minister Bram Shanker Jimpa starts drive to clean Bhangi Choe and its surroundings. P2 Tom Cruise is reportedly putting his film projects on hold to attend the coronation of King Charles. P3 Rakhi Sawant has filed an FIR against her husband Adil, accusing him of infidelity. P4 » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 23°C | MIN 8°C YESTERDAY MAX 22°C | MIN 7°C SUNSET THURSDAY 6.18 PM SUNRISE FRIDAY 7:14 AM » THURSDAY | 9 FEBRUARY 2023 | JALANDHAR THIEVES’ GANG BUSTED, 3 HELD Phagwara: The Nakodar sadar police busted a gang of thieves and arrested its three members. The investigating officer Som Nath said the accused have been identified as Lovepreet Singh, Ravi and Gagan. The IO said the accused stole iron rods from a store at Kang village. The police have recovered the iron rods from the accused. OC TRADERS’ HOUSE BURGLED Phagwara: The house of a trader was reportedly burgled in Mansa Devi Nagar last night. The burglars took away valuables worth ~3 lakh, including 3 tolas of gold and cash worth Rs 10,000. OC Police trace 6-year-old missing girl CM’s office directs Local Bodies Dept Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 8 The six-year-old daughter of a Nihang Sikh who was kidnapped by an unidentified woman was traced by the police at Amritsar today. As per information, on Monday, Jodh Singh, who sells vegetables at Maqsudan Mandi, was returning home when he saw a woman pleading for help on the roadside near Maqsudan. The woman who was in a dishevelled condition told him that she was kidnapped by some goons and had somehow managed to escape. The kidnappers were still at her heels and her life was in danger, she told Jod Singh. Taking her words to be true, Jod Singh agreed to help and WOMAN HE HELPED BEHIND INCIDENT, SAYS FATHER ■ Jodh Singh, who sells vegetables at TRIBUNE PHOTO INBRIEF The girl being reunited with her father on Wednesday. brought her along to his house at Kishanpura. He and his wife offered clothes and food to the woman, and even allowed her to stay with them till evening. However, the next day on Tuesday while he Maqsudan Mandi, saw a woman pleading for help on the roadside near Maqsudan. The woman claimed that she was being chased by kidnappers. Jod Singh and his wife helped her and even allowed her to stay with them till evening. However, the next day his daughter went missing. ■ He said when they checked the footage of CCTV cameras installed nearby, he saw the woman he had helped walking along with her daughter. He then immediately filed a complaint with the police. was at work, he got a call that his daughter was missing. He said when they searched for his daughter in the locality and checked the footage of CCTV cameras installed nearby, he saw the woman he had helped walking along with her daughter. He then immediately filed a complaint with the Division number 8 police. SHO Navdeep Singh said that after receiving a com- plaint from Jodh Singh, he alerted the police of neighbouring districts and circulated the photo of the girl along with that of the woman. He received inputs from Amritsar police this morning, and following some vital leads, they traced the girl near Ranjit Avenue in the city. The SHO said that the girl had been reunited with her parents and police teams were conducting raids to arrest the woman kidnapper. SHO Navdeep Singh also appealed to the people not to let any outsider enter their house without checking their identity. Also, if they found any such person pleading for help, they must report it to the police instead of helping them on their own, he added. Vendors protest outside MC office Latifpura oustees to hold protest outside MLA Angural’s residence Our Correspondent Phagwara, February 8 Hundreds of street vendors led by Jarnail Nangal, president, Lok Hit Sangharsh Morcha (LHSM), today again held a protest along with their (rehrris) against Phagwara Municipal Corporation. The protesters raised slogans and sat on a dharna outside the civic body’s office. Addressing the protesters, Nangal said the Municipal Corporation had vandalised the slums of poor vendors and taken away their belongings. The excesses committed by the civic body would not be tolerated, he added. Nangal alleged that the Tribune News Service Street vendors raise slogans against the Phagwara Municipal Corporation during a protest in Phagwara on Wednesday. vendors came twice earlier to meet the MC Commissioner but surprisingly she was not available. Ultimately, the vendors had announced that the dharna would continue till the meeting with MC Commissioner who was present today and assured them that they would not be harassed. However, Nangal warned the administration to avoid harassing the vendors, otherwise the agitation would be intensified. LHSM chairman Rajinder Rana, core committee members Ram Singh Bolina, Lalit Kangniwal and Dr Sukhdev Chaukria were present on the occasion. Sedative pills, ~45L drug money seized Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer conducts inspection at Khoja village. Hayer inspects public sand mining site at Khoja village Nawanshahr, February 8 Cabinet Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Wednesday inspected the public sand mining site at Khoja village in Nawanshahr. He said in view of the massive response to the public sand mines in seven districts of Punjab that were recently launched by CM Bhagwant Mann, it has been decided to increase the number of public sand mines to 50 in as many as 14 districts in the state. “A tar- get has been set to increase this number to over 150 by next year,” the minister said. Mines and Geology Director Davinder Pal Singh Kharbanda said to maintain transparency in the working of public sand mines and to check illegal mining, a ‘QR code’ will be sent to the buyer’s mobile phone in which sand information related to site name, payment, date and sand slip duration can be viewed by scanning it. — TNS Hoshiarpur, February 8 The district police have seized large quantities of drugs and drug money from various places and booked five smugglers, including a woman. Four of the five suspects have been arrested. According to the information, the Mahilpur police stopped a car and recovered a large quantity of sedative pills and drug money worth Rs. 45 lakh. The police have arrested two suspects. They have been identified as Pawandeep Singh and his brother Amandeep Singh, both residents of Baltohiyan. In another case, the police have arrested Jaswinder Singh, a resident of Nagdipur, in this regard. Main suspect Anmol Saini, alias Moli, a resident of Begumpur is at large. The Tanda police have arrested Shili, a resident of Miani and recovered 50-gm narcotic powder from her. — OC 3 involved in firing incident held Our Correspondent Phagwara, February 8 In a major breakthrough, the Phagwara police have arrested three persons involved in connection with a firing incident that took place on the night of January 26 in Phagwara. In that incident, some unidentified masked motorcyclists had shot at a youth in Mohalla Ankhi Nagar, Phagwara, around 10.45 pm; leaving him critically injured. Phagwara Superintendent of Police (SP) Mukhtiar Rai said the arrested accused have been identified as Raj Kumar, a Begumpur resident, Sangatpur village resident Gagandeep Singh and Ranjit Singh, a resident of Sarhal Mandi. SP Rai said the arrested accused had confessed to their involvement in the January 26 firing incident. The injured, identified as Sanjay Sachdeva (32), was first brought to the Civil Hospital but was later referred to Johal Hospital, Rama Mandi, due to his critical condition. The victim runs a grocery store-cum-money exchange business, and was closing the shop when the assailants struck. The bullet hit him in the chest. The assailants managed to flee the spot after committing the crime. City SHO Amandeep Nahar said the police have seized a pistol, 10 live cartridges and two magazines from Bhaini and Hira, and recovered 400 intoxicating tablets from Ranjit. The SHO said all arrested accused were produced before the local judicial magistrate, who has sent them to police remand till February 11. Jalandhar, February 8 On the 62nd day of their indefinite morcha against the state government and Jalandhar Improvement Trust, Latifpura oustees under the banner of Latifpura Murh Waseba Sanjha Morcha announced that they would hold a massive demonstration in front of the residence of MLA West Sheetal Angural on February 11. The morcha leaders led by Kashmir Singh Ghugshor said as long as the displaced people of Latifpura were not resettled at the same site, and are not given adequate compensation for the damage they had suffered and till the government did not take back the cases registered against some of the residents, their protest would not end. He alleged that last night two residents of Model Town tried to encroach upon a part of Kulwinder Singh’s house, (a Latifpura resident whose house was saved from demolition after he showed the required papers) by cutting a hole into a wall at the back of his house. The mor- c m y b NAKODAR SEWERAGE PROJECT Ashok Kaura Phagwara, February 8 The Punjab Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) has taken note of the Nakodar sewerage project running much behind schedule and directed the Local Bodies Department to expedite the construction work. Principal Secretary, Local Bodies Department, Vivek Pratap Singh has forwarded an e-mail received from the CMO to the chief executive officer of Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company and the Chief Executive Officer of Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board. Dilbag Singh, a resident of Baina Pur village and a social activist, also sent a news report on the Nakodar sewage project to the CMO. The news report said that the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB) failed to complete the first phase of laying sewer lines in Nakodar town by December 31, 2019, as was submitted to the Punjab and Haryana High Court by the state government. It said that the PWSSB engineer-in-chief appearing for the state of Punjab had submitted an affidavit before the Punjab and Haryana High Court bench stating that the detailed project report (DPR) of the first phase sewer was approved and vetted by the Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company (PMIDC) on May 6, 2016, carrying scope of the lateral sewer of length 30.67 km and intercepting sewer of the length of 6.96 km. He said the work is in progress and is likely be completed by December 31, 2019. PWSSB Nakodar sub-divisional engineer Deepak Kumar said that 93 per cent of the work had been completed till February 3. A Punjab and Haryana High Court bench while disposing of a civil writ petition filed by social activist Aditya Bhatara on January 16, 2019, has ordered that to monitor further progress, let the status report be filed after six months. Petitioner Aditya Bhatara in a representation to the Punjab Chief Secretary and Principal Secretary, Local Bodies Department, had said that the state has filed no status report in the High Court as he has not received a copy of it being a petitioner. Latifpura residents burn an effigy of the state government. cha leaders also alleged that some of the belongings of Kulwinder, including LED and fan etc were also missing from the house. They said an FIR against the attempt to take possession of his house had been registered at Police Station Division No. 6. The residents along with the morcha leaders also burnt an effigy of the Chief Minister and Chairman Improvement Trust in the evening, and announced that if the police failed to arrest the said residents, they would hold a protest outside the police station tomorrow. The leaders also said it had been protesting over two 2 held in Guru Ravidass Nagar firing incident Jalandhar, February 8 Two men accused of opening fire at a father-son duo at Guru Ravidass Nagar in Jalandhar last night were arrested by the Jalandhar police here today. The two accused have been identified as Maqsudan resident Gora Grewal (27) and Kot Kishan Chand resident Gaurav Kapila (26). They were arrested in Jodhewal Basti, Ludhiana, and two .32 bore pistols and five live rounds were also recovered from them. The duo, with four other accomplices, had opened fire at father-son duo Satnam Singh and Navjot Singh, on the night of February 6, in which both of them had sustained injuries. An FIR was registered against the six persons at Division No. 1 police station in Jalandhar under Sections 307, 452, 323, 148, 149 and 506 yesterday. The police said about a month ago, Navjot and Gora, among others, had a fight at the Maqsudan Chowk in Jalandhar. to expedite work On February 6, at about 9 pm, Gora and his aides Harminder Sandhu, Gaurav Kapira, Ranvir, German Bal and Robin had showed up at the victims’ house and barged into it. Gora fired two shots from his pistol at Satnam. His aides also injured Satnam’s son Navjot and fled the scene. While various police teams were dispatched to nab the culprits, Gora and Gaurav were arrested on the night of February 8. Gora and Gaurav were taken to the Civil Hospital in Jalandhar on Wednesday. A minor verbal spat ensued between the two parties at the hospital. The victim’s family, suspecting foul play, also alleged that while the accused came to the hospital walking, he was taken out in a wheelchair. They alleged that this was being done to create the impression that the accused had injuries, even though in reality, he had none. However, the Jalandhar police have rubbished these claims. months but CM Mann who visited the city thrice in the past few days did not bother to meet the affected families. They said if the government continues with this attitude, they will hold door-to-door campaigns against the AAP government ahead of MC elections. On the occasion, leaders of Latifpura morcha leaders including Kashmir Singh Ghuggsor, Gurdeep Singh Bhandal, Jathedar Kashmir Singh Jandiala, Sukhjit Singh Droli, Makhan Singh Kandola, Lakhvir Singh Saunti, Seva Singh, Baljinder Kaur, Rajwinder Kaur, Sukhman, Sukhpreet Kaur, Narinder Kumar and others were present. Nakodar residents held for bike theft Our Correspondent Phagwara, February 8 The Nakodar city police have arrested three local residents on the charge of stealing motorcycles. The investigating officer (IO) Rannjit Singh said the accused have been identified as Lovpreet alias Bitta, a resident of Mohalla Saran, Sahil alias Baba, a resident of Mohalla Guru Nanak Pura, and Gagan Deep Singh alias Gagan, a resident of Mohalla Munaran, Nakodar. The IO said the police has received information that the accused were coming from the Malsian side with stolen motorcycles and were intercepted at a naka. Three stolen motorcycles without registration numbers were recovered from their possession. The IO said that a case under Sections 379, 411 and 34 of IPC has been registered against the accused. Pesticide residue testing lab to be operational soon Aakanksha N Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 8 After a long wait of 14 years, Pesticides Residue Testing Laboratory is expected to become operational in the district. The Tribune had recently highlighted that only a building of the project had come up in 14 years. An official from the Agriculture Department said an estimate of Rs 18 crore had been made for the renovation works of the building. Punjab Technology Incubator, Mohali, is preparing a detailed project report in this regard and will be looking after the project. To monitor pesticide residues in food items, the Agriculture Department had proposed to set up Punjab’s first Pesticide Residue Testing Laboratory (PRTL) in 2008. The construction work for the PRTL was entrusted to the Punjab Mandi Board in The pesticides residual testing laboratory in a shambles. 2009, which was completed at the cost of Rs 2.84 crore. The foundation stone for the opening of the laboratory and agriculture office was laid by the former Director, Agriculture, Mangal Singh Sandhu, on May 18, 2012. However, the laboratory area, which has eight spacious rooms, is currently being used for record-keeping by the Agriculture Department. Recently a team from Mohali had also visited the site to check every technical aspect related to the laboratory. As per the information, the testing will be done on the first floor where a complete isolation will be required, and the sampling will be done on the ground floor.