23022023-ATR-01.qxd 2/22/2023 11:54 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY MAX 28°C | MIN 10°C YESTERDAY MAX 26°C | MIN 11°C CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES SHOW SIGNS OF PICKING UP HELEN COMPARES ISRAEL FORMER PM MEIR TO QUEEN AYUSHMANN ROPED IN TO HOST ZEE CINE AWARDS The prices of sand and gravel have recorded a moderate decline in the local retail market. P2 Helen Mirren takes on role of Israel ex-PM and compared her ‘maternal’ instinct to that of Tudor monarch. P3 Ayushmann Khurrana will be hosting the Zee Cine Awards this year and also perform at the event. P4 » » » SUNSET THURSDAY 6.23 PM SUNRISE FRIDAY 7:04 AM THURSDAY | 23 FEBRUARY 2023 | AMRITSAR Drug peddler booked for murder bid Tribune News Service 400 protesting farmers block PNB robbery: Accused involved in one more bank loot of ~17 lakh Asr-Pathankot railway track PK Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 22 An alleged drug peddler was booked by the police on the charge of attempt to murder, after he attacked a police party, which signalled him to stop the car. He was identified as Manwinder Singh of Hardowal village in Dera Baba Nanak area. The police recovered 6gm heroin and a sharp-edged weapon from him. Sub-Inspector Sukhwinderjit Singh said he along with his police party had put up a checkpoint at Dayalpura village, when they observed a car coming from Dayal Bhadang village side. He said they signalled the car to stop, however, the occupants reversed the car and tried to flee. He said the police team started a chase. The car fell from the road into the fields. The occupant came out and attacked the cops. He was later overpowered and arrested by the police. During a search, the police seized 6-gm heroin from him. The police have registered a case under Section 307 of the IPC and Section 21, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act against him. Tribune News Service Gurdaspur, February 22 Nearly 400 farmers on Wednesday blocked the Amritsar-Pathankot railway track at the local railway station putting hundreds of passengers to inconvenience. The protesters were demanding a legal guarantee on the wheat and paddy MSPs, withdrawal of cases registered against their colleagues during the agriculture laws stir and payment of sugarcane arrears. Yet another issue that cropped up was the amount of compensation that was being given to those farmers whose agricultural land was being acquired by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the proposed Delhi-Katra expressway. The farmers claimed that compensation that was being given was “on the lower side and needed to be substantially enhanced”. The agriculturists were led by Sarwan Singh Pandher, a leader of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee. The protest evoked strong reactions from the general public. “I fail to understand the logic of farm unions in blocking national highways and railway tracks. Why is the travelling public being harassed? Are we the ones who are going to take a decision on the demands of the farmers? What are they gaining by stopping trains? When will Commuters question logic of farmers to block tracks Amritsar, February 22 Two prime suspects in Punjab National Bank zonal branch robbery case had also looted the bank’s Kathunangal branch in December last year. The duo had confessed this during police interrogation following their arrest two days ago. Laljit Singh of Mehniyan Lohran village and Gagandeep Singh of Rishi Vihar on Majitha Road were currently in police remand. Laljit is said to be a close aide of a senior Akali leader. Deputy Commissioner of Police (investigation) Mukhwinder Singh Bhullar confirmed the development. The police were suspecting their involvement in the December 19, 2022 robbery, in which two armed persons had decamped with Rs 17.50 lakh. “Laljit had an account in the Kathunangal branch. He knew that there was no guard in the bank and therefore panned to loot the bank along with Gagandeep,” said Bhullar. Of Rs 17.50 lakh, he gave Rs 5.50 lakh to Gagandeep. He got the remaining amount deposited in a bank through a known person thus turning it into white money. The same amount was still in the bank. The bank account has been frozen by the Punjab Police, said the DCP . Bhullar said Laljit along with his wife was aspiring to settle abroad. Therefore, he targeted the Kathunangal branch of the bank for easy money, he said. The investigations carried in the Rani Ka Bagh bank robbery revealed that the duo had visited the bank a day before the incident. They were planning to loot an ATM but finding no guard at the ATM, they changed their mind and planned to loot the bank next day. Farmers stage a protest at the Gurdaspur railway station on Wednesday. TRIBUNE PHOTO they understand that blocking rail and road traffic takes them nowhere,” said Mohan Singh, a traveller, who kept waiting at the Gurdaspur railway station for several hours. He wanted to catch a train to Pathankot, but returned home after a railway official told him that the farmers were not relenting. There were many more like Mohan Singh who had to return home dejected. SSP Harish Damaya said security arrangements were put in place in the morning itself. He said a SP-rank officer was in-charge of security. Since early morning, scores of cops could be seen positioned at the road leading to the railway station. SDM Amandeep Kaur Ghuman handled the negotiations on the part of the district administration. Batala SDM Shayari Bhandari, SP Prithipal Singh and DSP Sukhpal Singh Randhawa were also part of the negotiating team. The protesters, despite the best efforts of the Amandeep Kaur-led team, seemed to be in no mood to relent. “It is a door-die battle now. The government is in no mood to listen to our grievances,” said a farmer. A farm leader said he and his fellow protesters would meet Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Aggarwal before deciding on their future course of action. Seema Sharma, Divisional Railway Manager, Ferozepur, reached the site and she along with the DC started confabulations with the farmers. Sources said she had agreed to re-route trains running on the AmritsarPathankot section till the impasse was broken. Protest on rly tracks leaves passengers in lurch Amritsar: Passengers of about four pairs of trains on Wednesday were an inconvenienced lot as the movement of trains on the AmritsarPathankot rail line was stalled here due to the blockade near Gurdaspur by farmer organisations. Agri Dept gears to check farm fires Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 22 Ahead of the wheat harvesting season, the Agriculture Department has started preparations to deal with the burning of crop residue in fields. Sharing the action plan to combat this illegal practice, officials are working on ensuring availability of machines for alternate management of the crop residue and creating awareness among the farming community. The officials stated that the department would also appoint nodal officers and cluster officers to keep an eye on the burning of crop residue in fields. Chief Agriculture Officer, Amritsar, Dr Jatinder Singh Gill said the department was also identifying the villages from where a large number of stubble burning cases were reported during the previous season. “The department would run extensive awareness campaigns in these villages and motivate farmers to shun the practice of burning,” said Dr Jatinder Singh Gill. The department would ensure that small and marginal farmers, who do not have the new machines for management of crop residue, were made available on time from block offices. Farmers would be made aware of the custom hiring centres from where they could get these machines on rent. Punjabi still not getting prominence in pvt sector offices Tribune News Service Boards mentioning names of institutions in Amritsar on Wednesday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR Woman drug peddler held Amritsar, February 22 The Amritsar Rural Police have arrested an alleged woman drug peddler during a Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) held on Tuesday. The accused, identified as Savinder Kaur, was arrested. ASI Hardeep Singh said during the search operation, the police searched the house of Harjit Singh of Kapurthala, who is now residing at Baba Bakala. During the search, the police confiscated 9-gm heroin and a car from the house. Besides, the police seized a pistol, a .32 bore pistol, three bullets, 10 mobile phones, nine wrist watches and two computer scales from the car. — TNS Amritsar, February 22 Despite February 21 set as the deadline by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for replacing boards mentioning names of institutions (public and private) with Punjabi ones to give prominence to the language, not much has changed, especially in the private sector. The CM had earlier asked 2 from city selected for Egypt event Amritsar, February 22 Two city-based sportspersons — a grappler and a coach — are part of the 14member Indian wrestling team that will take part in the four-day second Ranking Series Wrestling Championship in Alexandria, a city in Egypt, starting tomorrow (February 23). The Indian team comprises 10 wrestlers, three coaches and a physiotherapist. These two personalities are: Vikram Sharma, coach of the Indian wrestling team, and his pupil Karanjit Singh. Karanjit is a bright player in the 67-kg Greco-Roman category. Earlier, 23-year-old Karanjit took part in the first Ranking Karanjit Singh and Vikram Sharma (right) in Amritsar. Series Wrestling Championship held in Croatia. Every year ranking series are held in four parts. He has been getting training under Vikram for the past one decade. A resident of Chabal Road, Karanjit Singh has been securing second and third runners-up positions in the annual edition of the event for the past several years. He won the first gold in the wrestling championship during the meet held in Visakhapatnam of Andhra Pradesh in December last year. A Punjab Police personnel, Vikram has been GrecoRoman style coach of the senior wrestling team since 2018 and earlier he had been coach with the junior national team for two years. During his coaching career, his team member Sunil Kumar (87-kg) won the gold medal in the Senior Asian Championship in 2019 after a gap of 27 years. The Indian wrestling team won four bronze medals in the Rome ranking series held in Italy in 2021. — TNS Indian, Pak women hold interactions at Kartarpur corridor Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Inner Wheel Club members. Batala, February 22 “We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.” This was the motto of a group of 150 women, aligned to the Inner Wheel Club (IWC)-District 307, as they travelled to the hallowed Sikh shrine at Kartarpur Sahib, across the international border, to keep a date with their counterparts from Pakistan. The women belonged to Punjab and J&K while the Pakistani women, who were a part of the IWC-Districts 327 and 342, hailed mainly from Islamabad and Quetta. While the Indian delegation was led by IWC-307 Chairman Dr Satinder Kaur Nijjar, the Pakistanis were led by Zara Dass and Sadaf Sajeel. Dr Nijjar was the fulcrum around which the proceedings revolved. She was instrumental in conceptualising continued on page 2 c m y b all the institutions to give prominence to Punjabi while writing the names of offices. The institutions were asked to replace such boards where Punjabi was not used in prominence till February 21. Apart from the government offices, the instructions were also applicable to private institutions, businesses and shops. Even in the buildings and institutions run by the gov- ernment, only partial implementation can be seen as still many of the boards and direction signs are still written in Roman Script. The residents stated that the state government had made residents believe that it is serious for promoting the mother language as the CM had very vocally claimed that Punjabi would be given prominence in all spheres of life. “Either these were mere hollow claims or the government has backtracked from implementing CM’s orders,” said a resident Kultar Singh. Though many residents stated that the government should not interfere in what people eat, drink, wear or the language they use, it can easily make punjabi as a language for official works and it would help in pro- moting the language. “In government offices, most of the work is still being done in English which a large section of the society is unable to read and write. Furthermore the government can start by recruiting sufficient number of Punjabi language teachers in schools as many of the posts are lying vacant,” suggested another resident. Rego Bridge to be replaced soon: AVM Amritsar, February 22 After a local NGO, Amritsar Vikas Manch, wrote to the Union Railways Minister regarding the depilated condition of over 150-year-old Rego Bridge and requested for the construction of a new bridge over the railway crossing, it has received assurances from the ministry. Principal Kulwant Singh Ankhi, patron, Amritsar Vikas Manch, had e-mailed a letter to Central Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav requesting him to rebuild the Rego railway over bridge. A copy of the letter was also sent to Tarun Chugh, national general secretary of the BJP . Ankhi said on Wednesday, Chug informed the manch that he held a meeting with Vaishnav wherein he was informed by the minister that the construction of the new bridge would be started soon. Ankhi said they had requested that keeping in view the increased vehicle traffic, a new design of the bridge should be sanctioned and it should be made a four-lane bridge. — TNS Passengers wait for their trains at the Amritsar railway station on Wednesday. PHOTO: SUNIL KUMAR Don’t pull alarm chains in trains for trivial reasons, passengers told Amritsar, February 22 A week-long drive to make train passengers aware about pulling the alarm chain is being conducted in the Ferozepur division. The drive entered its second day today. Passengers at the Amritsar railway station, which falls under the division, were made aware of the provision of an alarm chain available in all coaches of a train for their safety and security. The objective of the drive is to make every passenger aware of the rules of alarm chain pulling. Ticket checking staff and Railway Protection Force (RPF) jawans of the division are making people aware about chain pulling by talking to passengers during the journey and also by making announcements through public address systems at stations. Passengers often pull the chain at the stations where a train does not stop, or stop the train by pulling the chain for trivial reasons. This is a reason why trains run late and passengers face delay in reaching their destination. In this scenario, there is a provision of Rs 1,000 fine or one year imprisonment or both for pulling the chain without any reason. In the division, so far, this year 174 persons were arrested and a fine of Rs 48,400 was recovered from them under Section 141 of the Railway Act in connection with the alarm chain pulling by the RPF . The alarm chain system in train is meant to stop a train in case of an emergency. The chain should be pulled only when there is a concrete reason for pulling it in case of any kind of accident or any emergency in the train. — TNS