23022023-LT-01.qxd 2/23/2023 12:01 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune ~25L SANCTIONED FOR PAYAL VILLAGES UNDER MPLADS AYUSHMANN ROPED IN TO HOST ZEE CINE AWARDS Ayushmann Khurrana will be hosting the Zee Cine Awards this year and also perform at the event. P3 CLEAR SKY MAX 29°C | MIN 10°C YESTERDAY MAX 28°C | MIN 11°C HELEN COMPARES ISRAEL FORMER PM MEIR TO QUEEN A grant of Rs 25 lakh was announced by Fatehgarh Sahib MP Amar Singh for Payal villages on Wednesday. P2 FORECAST Mirren takes on role of Israel ex-PM and compared her ‘maternal’ instinct to that of Tudor monarch. P4 » » SUNSET THURSDAY 6.20 PM SUNRISE FRIDAY 7:04 AM » THURSDAY | 23 FEBRUARY 2023 | LUDHIANA Kin kill nephew by pushing him into canal Cops chase down 2 bike-borne extortionists, recover ~1.5 lakh Tribune News Service Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, February 22 A youth was thrown into a canal at Machhiwara Sahib by his uncle (chacha) and another relative after a brawl yesterday. The body of Bunty was recovered from the Sirhind Canal today. The açcused have been identified as deceased’s uncle Balli and Ravi of Kurukshetra. Complainant Rajmji said yesterday afternoon he was working in his fields where he saw three people fighting near the Pawat Canal. Two of them threw Bunty into the canal. He immediately informed the Machhiwara police. Due to strong current of water Bunty could not come out and drowned. The police have registered a murder case against the two accused. Machhiwara SHO Inspector Davinderpal said that after recovering the body of Bunty from the Sirhind Canal, both the accused were arrested by the police. Ludhiana February 22 Cops at the Focal Point police station caught two criminals who were on the run after receiving the extortion amount from a caterer of Jandiali village on Tuesday night. Inspector Amandeep Singh Brar along with team arrested them after a daring chase near Kaind Bridge. The arrested accused have been identified as Manvir Singh, alias Billa, of Bhaini Sahib village, and Vipin Kumar, alias Laddi, of Guru Nanak Nagar, Khanna. The police recovered a toy pistol, extortion money and a sharp weapon from the accused. Following the duo’s arrest, Police Commissioner Mandeep Singh Sidhu immediately rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. Yesterday night caterer Sunil had received a call from Malaysia and the caller told the caterer to give Rs 5 lakh extortion else threatened to Inspector Amandeep Brar with the accused in Ludhiana. kill him and his family members. The caller was even aware about the names of the complainant’s family member. After negotiation, a deal was struck at Rs 1.5 lakh. Today morning, the accused again called the victim and asked Sunil to handover extortion amount near railway station but when victim reached there, the accused changed the location and asked complainant to reach near Kaind Bridge. “We have already laid a trap, the moment two bike-borne persons received the extortion money, the police party immediately started chasing the accused. The accused after dropping their motorcycle on the road entered into the fields but we managed to chase them. The accused also waved weapons at police but when duo was nabbed, it was found to be a toy weapon. The extortion amount of Rs 1.5 lakh has also been recovered, “SHO Brar said. He said accused Manvir was known to the complainant Sunil and he was aware that Sunil has a good business of catering so he can easily give extortion. The SHO said the accused had taken the extreme step to become rich in a short period of time. The duo has no connection with any gangster or gang involved in extortion cases. “If you will give extortion money to us, no gangster in Punjab can even dare to ask for extortion because all gangsters are under us,” the accused told the complainant at the time of asking for extortion. Police bust vehicle lifters’ gang, recover seven cars 3 members arrested | Had sold vehicles to Moga junk dealer Tribune News Service Ludhiana, February 22 The city police today claimed to have busted a vehicle lifters’ gang and arrested three of its members along with 14 vehicles, including seven cars. The arrested accused have been identified as Arshdeep Singh (22) of Dharamkot, Harvinder Singh, alias Panju (19), a resident of Dharamkot, and Gurdit Singh, alias Guri (21), of Moga. Police Commissioner Mandeep Singh Sidhu, ACP West Mandeep Singh, SHO PAU police station SI Rajinderpal Singh addressed press conference regarding the matter. CP Sidhu said on February 16, thieves had stolen a Scorpio from outside the house of Rajiv Kumar at Hambran CP Mandeep Singh Sidhu addresses a press conference in Ludhiana. road. When police started probe and scanned several CCTV cameras, the police got clue about the accused. Later a raid was conducted at the whereabouts of the accused and they were nabbed. The CP added that during the questioning of the accused, they revealed that they had been committing vehicle thefts since January this year only and had sold some of the vehicles to junk dealer Jaspreet Singh of Baba Anand Singh Nagar, Moga. He said on the disclosures of the accused, the police recovered 14 vehicles, including three Scorpio, one Bolero, Innova, Maruti Zen, Indigo, and seven motorcycles from the gang members. “Four cars were stolen by the accused from the parking lot of Golden Temple, Amritsar, while other vehicles were stolen from Ludhiana, Amritsar and Shahkot. We have also nominated junk dealer Jaspreet Singh who had been buying stolen vehicles from the gang at cheap prices. Raids are on to nab him,” said CP Sidhu. ACP Mandeep said vehicles which were stolen from the parking area of Golden Temple had left the parking slip inside the vehicles and thieves had shown the same slip to the parking lot employees to take vehicles out. Lal lakirresidents to Promote Punjabi, but pressure get property rights of penalty unwarranted: Traders 968 villages notified in Ludhiana dist A meeting of the town vending committee under way at MC’s Zone A in Ludhiana. INDERJEET VERMA Vendors to be shifted to notified sites Tribune News Service Ludhiana, February 22 In the meeting of the Town Vending Committee (TVC) held at MC’s Zone A on Wednesday, officials decided to shift the street vendors to the notified sites where the vending zones were proposed to be established. The officials said this move will not only facilitate the street vendors but will also help in streamlining the movement of traffic. The members of different street vendors associations also gave consent for the same and the process is expected to commence within a week, they said. The MC has failed to set up even a single vending zone for street vendors despite a plan for 64 street vending zones that had been notified in the past. Joint Commissioner Kulpreet Singh, in-charge of the Tehbazaari wing of the MC, stated that the street vendors have been directed to shift at around two dozen sites in the first phase. The street vendors have also given consent for shifting to those sites and the process is expected to start within a week. Singh stated that apart from the 64 notified street vending zones, the officials have also proposed around 12 more sites that can be devel- oped as vending zones. Discussions were also held regarding those sites and the suggestions submitted by the members of TVC will be incorporated before finalising the sites. Efforts are also being made to identify more sites in the city. Bal Krishan Pappi, leader of a union, said only verified vendors be allowed to run business at the notified sites. Concrete steps must be taken to curb corruption, he said. Tiger Singh, leader of another union, said the MC has failed to ensure the implementation of the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Act, 2014 so far in the city. Ludhiana, February 22 With a view to resolving the property-related disputes in the rural areas falling under abadi deh/lal lakir, the “Mera Ghar Mere Naam/SWAMITVA” scheme would virtually prove a boon for the residents to obtain the legal title for their properties, said Keshav Hingonia, Special Secretary Revenue-cumMission Director SVAMITVA Scheme Punjab. Chairing a review meeting with the district officials and revenue staff here today, he said that the Punjab Government had initiated several programmes to digitally empower rural areas across the state. Mera Ghar Mere Naam/SVAMITVA scheme was among the schemes, in which, property cards were being issued in the state for the purpose of providing proper ownership of houses and plots falling under abadi deh area/lal lakir, he said. “The scheme aims to provide rural people with the right to document their residential properties so that they can use their property for economic purposes, said Hingo- SVAMITVA SCHEME ❝ The scheme aims to provide people with right to document their residential properties so that they can use their property for economic purposes. ❞ Keshav Hingonia, SPL SECY, REVENUE-CUMMISSION DIRECTOR SVAMITVA SCHEME, PUNJAB nia while adding that as many as 968 villages had been notified falling under the abadi deh/lal lakir, in the district. Before preparing legal titles, the mapping would be done through drone flying. The maps of these drone-mapped villages should be obtained and displayed on large flex boards in villages so that people can submit their objections regarding the errors in the maps within 90 days. After verification, their names for final approval would be sent to the Survey of India.” He said that Ludhiana had conducted drone flying of 362 villages in the initial stage and the rest of the villages would be brought under the survey shortly. — TNS Shivani Bhakoo tribune News Service Ludhiana, February 22 The order of the government to put signboards on private and public buildings in Punjabi across the state has evoked mixed response from traders and shopkeepers. We are not against promotion of Punjabi but the pressure of penalty or challan will not be tolerated, they said. They added that first of all, the government offices should adhere to the orders. Talking to The Tribune, Ayush Aggarwal, general secretary, Vyopar Mandal, Ludhiana, said the whole market is with the government to promote Punjabi. “Firstly, they should start the drive with the government offices, once that is 100 per cent done, private sector can start adhering to the directions,” he said. A shopkeeper at Bhadaur House, Neeraj Kumar, said, “We are busy filing the returns as the financial year was closing. We will change the signboards, but keeping a date for the same is not acceptable.” While another trader said the customers from other states would find it tough to A signboard in Punjabi at a market in Ludhiana. ASHWANI DHIMAN MIXED RESPONSE IN AHMEDGARH ■ Mandi Ahmedgarh: Residents have given mixed response to a clarion call made by CM Punjab Bhagwant Mann to display all signboards on private and public buildings in Punjabi language. ■ Many of the entrepreneurs and organisers had English signboards at their premises replaced with Punjabi ones as a token of respect towards the mother tongue. However, there are still many who cared two hoots for directions to replace all prominent boards with Punjabi before International Mother Language Day celebrated on Feb 21. locate the shop or place if everything is written in Punjabi. He said on signboards or advertisements, various languages are written, now everything can not be changed in Punjabi alone. BJP’s Gurdeep Singh Gosha has written a letter to the CM in this regard and has asked him not to put undue pressure on traders and shop- keepers by imposing penalties or fines. “It is good to promote Punjabi as the language teaches love and affection for each other but not in dictatorial manner as being done by the CM,” he said. At the same time, many shopkeepers at the Mall Road maintained that they have switched over to both English and Punjabi. Southern bypass project hangs fire due to non-availability of land Portions of 13 illegal Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Ludhiana, February 22 It has been over 13 years since the southern bypass in Ludhiana was approved but this Greenfield highway project still remains on the paper even as its cost has escalated almost thrice, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has confirmed. The reason for not taking off this another big ticket project is again the unavailability of land due to stiff resistance by the landowners to part away with their landholdings under acquisition, officials have said. The initial capital cost of this one of the major projects to decongest the busy internal and external arteries of OFFICIALSPEAK ❝ PROJECT REPORT Krishan Sachdeva, PROJECT DIRECTOR, NHAI Date of allotment: Jan 25, 2010 Missed deadline: Dec 31, 2020 Fresh deadline: Dec 31, 2023 Initial cost of work: ~328 crore Revised cost: ~956.54 crore Technical sanction: Jan 18, 2012 the industrial and business hub of the North has gone up from Rs 328 crore estimated in 2010 to Rs 956.54 crore, which included Rs 702 crore civil cost and Rs 270 crore land acquisition expenditure. The NHAI Project Director, Krishan Sachdeva, told The Tribune, here on Wednesday that the 25.24-km-long southern bypass required 180 hectares of land but not a single inch of it had been made available as yet. He disclosed that acquisition proceedings had already been completed for the entire chunk of 180 hectares of land for which an award of Rs 286.85 crore had also been announced. Even as the authorities concerned had deposited an award amount of Rs 195 crore and deposited Rs 93.85 crore, which accounts for 32.72 per cent of the total The project requires 180 hectares of land but not a single inch of it had been made available as yet. ❞ award money, the farmers and other landowners had not been letting possession of their acquired land. “The landowners have rejected the compensation award even though the district administration and the NHAI are making all-out efforts to convince them and take possession of the acquired land but to no avail,” Sachdeva said while adding that the work on the project can only take off after the sufficient land is made available. Having missed several deadlines in the past, the Bharatmala Pariyojana project was allotted on January 25, 2010, on the hybrid annuity model (HAM) mode. The last deadline of the c m y b project was December 31, 2020, which was also not met, and in the process the cost of the project has escalated by almost three times. A single railway overbridge under the project had also been approved by the Northern Railways and the land acquisition cost had been sanctioned as well. The southern bypass project entails four-laning of road along Sidhwan canal with flyovers, underpasses, ROBs and canal lining from Doraha to Ludhiana-Ferozepur highway. What caused delay The non-availability of 180 hectares of land required for the project has delayed the project. The award for acqui- sition of land spread across 15 villages had been declared but physical possession still remains a distant dream. NHAI’S assurance The NHAI has assured to begin the work on the southern bypass shortly. An assurance to this effect was given by the NHAI Chairman Santosh Kumar Yadav to the MP Sanjeev Arora, who had called on him in New Delhi recently. Arora said the NHAI Chairman had assured him that the work on the southern bypass will soon be taken up and the construction of four bridges across Sidhwan Canal towards South City in Ludhiana will also be completed by the end of this year. buildings demolished Ludhiana, February 22 The MC demolished portions of 13 under construction illegal buildings on Jassian road and adjoining areas on Wednesday. These include commercial as well as residential constructions. The building branch officials stated that the buildings were being constructed in violation of the building bylaws and the owners also failed to get the building plans approved from the MC. Civic body teams demolished three residential and two commercial buildings in Jain Ccolony on Jassian Road, seven shops being constructed on the main Jassian Demolition drive in progress. road and a commercial construction in Kunj Vihar. MC Assistant Town Planner MS Bedi said the violations came to the notice of the officials during routine checking, following which the demolition drive was conducted. — TNS