30042023-ATR-01.qxd 4/30/2023 12:07 AM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune CITY AIRPORT SEES 82.1% RISE IN PASSENGER TRAFFIC SONAM KAPOOR PART OF KING CHARLES’ CORONATION CONCERT Actress Sonam Kapoor said: “I am honoured to join the Commonwealth virtual choir for this ceremony”. P3 MAINLY CLOUDY MAX 34°C | MIN 21°C YESTERDAY MAX 36°C | MIN 19°C CORDEN BIDS GOODBYE TO CBS’ THE LATE LATE SHOW The passenger footfall at Shri Guru Ram Dass Jee International Airport continues to rise. P2 FORECAST The final episode of James Corden’s The Late Late Show had quite a few emotional moments. P4 » » SUNSET SUNDAY 7.09 PM SUNRISE MONDAY 5:45 AM » SUNDAY | 30 APRIL 2023 | AMRITSAR INBRIEF THREE BOOKED FOR FRAUD Amritsar: The city police have booked three persons for duping a local resident on the pretext of getting his kin recruited in the Army. Those booked was identified as Hardev Singh of Riyali Khurd in Batala and his two unknown accomplices. The complainant, Darshan Singh, alleged that they took Rs 4 lakh from him for getting his son recruited in the Army. He said one of the accused posed as Army Colonel and other as a head clerk in the Army. They had defrauded a total of Rs 20 lakh from several other persons in this way. The police have registered a case under Sections 420 and 120-B of the IPC in this regard. TNS ONE NABBED WITH 66-GM HEROIN Amritsar: The Maqboolpura police have arrested Harjinder Singh of Maqboolpura locality for allegedly possessing 66gm of heroin. He was nabbed by a police patrolling party. A case has been registered. TNS Kunal Manhas tops dist with 99.98 percentile 43 candidates manage to get 100 percentile in the country this year JEE (MAIN) RESULT Tribune News Service Amritsar, April 29 The result of the JEE (Main) Session 2 was declared by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Saturday. The news brought cheer to students from the district, who managed to bag merit positions. Of the 43 candidates who managed to get 100 percentile across the country this year, Kunal Manhas has scored 99.98 percentile in the JEE Main Session 2 to emerge as the district topper. Kunal, who had earlier scored 99.71 percentile in the JEE (MAIN) Session 1, wants to become a software engineer. Kunal’s AIR is 300. Rehaan Goenka with a percentile of 99.82 was another top scorer and second in the district. His All-India Rank is 2104. Raveesh Gulati from FITJEE bagged the third position in the district by scoring 99.75 percentile. The exam was conducted Manmeet Singh Gill Tribune News Service 99.98 % 99.82 % 99.75 % Kunal Manhas Rehaan Goenka Raveesh Gulati in the first week of April and the JEE-Advanced exam will be conducted in the months of June-July. The JEE (Main) is conducted in two sessions. While JEE Advanced is only for admissions to the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), JEE Main is for admission to several National Institute of Technologies (NITs) and other centre-aided engineering colleges in India. Students must appear for JEE Main to sit for JEE Advanced. He wants to become a software engineer, so he will now be taking the JEE Advance. He is interested in taking admission in IIT Mumbai and Delhi. His favourite subject is maths and likes to unwind by listening to music or playing cricket. His father Shalinder Singh runs a shop and mother Sujata Rani is a homemaker. Rehaan Goenka, a student of Spring Dale School, will also be taking JEE Advance. Other students from Spring Dale School, who scored big in JEE Main Session 2 include Amitoj Miglani with 99.48 percentile and Tanisha with 99.11 percentile, Ruhan Khanna scored 98, Prajeet Singh 97.96 and Kavisha 96.21 percentile. Around 9.4 lakh students appeared in this exam all over the country. Speaking at Raveesh’s success, Indresh Kiraula, Centre Head, FIITJEE (Amritsar Centre), said, “A total of four students scored more than 99 percentile. Seven students scored more than 98 percentile, 11 students scored more than 97 percentile and total 18 students scored above 90 percentile from FIITJEE Amritsar centre.” 12 illegal constructions razed Tribune News Service Amritsar, April 29 The Municipal Town Planning (MTP) wing of the Amritsar Municipal Corporation demolished 12 illegal buildings in the walled city area here on Friday. A team led by Central Zone’s Assistant Town Planner (ATP) Arun Khanna along with his team demolished an under-construction building in front of PK Transport near Shera Wala Gate with a ditch machine. The builders of the illegal construction reached the spot and submitted an application that they would demolish the remaining construction themselves. A portion of a commercial building next to Alpine Hotel near Shera Wala Gate was removed and goods were seized. The foundation walls and pillars of an under-construction building was also removed near the Shera Wala Gate. ATP Arun Khanna said work on two under-construction buildings was stopped and goods were seized. Another under-construction commercial building was partially demolished in the area. An under-construction build- ing near the old office of the Amritsar Improvement Trust was also razed. Similarly, in Katra Ahluwalia area, goods were seized after stopping construction work on three buildings in Goenka Market and one in the main market. These buildings were Four duped by online fraudsters Two booked for setting room on fire 75K litres of lahan seized in Tarn Taran Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, April 29 Two miscreants set ablaze the house of Sukhwinder Singh, a resident of Sarhali, 10 days ago over an argument between both sides. Argument over an issue between both parties was the trigger An illegal construction being razed in Amritsar on Friday. A BUILDING RAZED IN FRONT OF PK TRANSPORT A team led by Central Zone's Assistant Town Planner (ATP) Arun Khanna along with his team demolished an under-construction building in front of PK Transport near Shera Wala Gate with a ditch machine. The builders of the illegal construction reached the spot and submitted an application that they would demolish the remaining construction themselves. Tribune News Service Amritsar, April 29 Four persons in the city have fallen prey to the online fraudsters and lost their hard earned money within seconds. The police have registered four separate cases in this connection and launched further investigations. Surmukh Singh, a victim, said that some unknown persons hacked his credit card details and withdrew around Rs 75,000 from his account. Similarly, Renu Pushkarna of Jagdamba Colony told that unidentified persons took out Rs 1.47 lakh from her bank account. In another incident, Raj Kumar Chawla informed the continued on page 2 The material recovered in Tarn Taran on Saturday. GURBAXPURI Tarn Taran, April 29 A team of the Excise Department of Tarn Taran and Ferozpur districts today seized a huge quantity of lahan, illicit liquor and other apparatus in Kirian and Marrar villages of the district. Navjot Bharti, Excise Officer, Tarn Taran, said during the raid four working stills, 285 bottles of illicit liquor, 75,000 80% procured wheat lying in grain markets Slow lifting becomes a problem for farmers being illegally constructed. ATP Arun Khanna stated that on Friday, they took action against 12 buildings, violating the building bylaws. The MTP wing would continue to take action against illegal buildings in future also, added MC officials. Sukhwinder Singh had lodged a complaint against Malkit Singh Ghughi and Sukha Singh of the same village. He told the police that the accused came to his house and set ablaze a room of his house. The goods kept in the house were totally damaged in the fire. Investigating officer ASI Bishan Das said an argument over an issue between both parties was said to be the cause of the incident. The ASI said a case under Sections 436, 452, 427, and 34, IPC, had been registered against the accused who are absconding. Sukhwinder Singh said the accused trespassed his residence on April 20 and set ablaze a room. litres of lahan was seized. The officer said that the lahan was destroyed on the spot. The team also seized 23 big tarpaulins, four iron drums, one big plastic drum, and 12 plastic cans. Sarwan Singh of Marrar, Gora and Lovepreet Singh, alias Labhu of Kirian, had been booked under Sections 61,1,14 of the Excise Act by the Harike police. The accused were yet to be arrested. Navjot Bharti said the team was supervised by Rajneesh Batra, Excise Officer; Jatinder Singh, Excise and Taxation Inspector, and Jagdeep Kaur, ETI. Sunita Rani, SHO, police station, Harike, excise police force Ferozepur and Tarn Taran district too were the part of the joint raid party. — OC c m y b Amritsar, April 29 The slow lifting of procured wheat from the grain mandis in the border districts of Amritsar and Tarn Taran is becoming a problem for arhtiyas, labourers and farmers. Farmers are facing the shortage of space due to which it has become difficult to unload bring fresh produce from the fields to the mandis. On the other hand, arhtiyas and labourers fear if it rains, it would increase their work. In Amritsar district, while a total of 5.11 lakh metric tonnes of wheat has been procured, only 86,000 tonnes of it has been lifted. In Tarn Taran too, a total of 6.61 lakh MT wheat has been procured, only around 1.11 lakh MT has been lifted. In both the districts, nearly 83 per cent of A large heap of wheat at the Bhagtanwala grain market in Amritsar on Saturday. PHOTO: SUNIL KUMAR procured wheat is lying in the grain markets. Most of the procured stocks in the grain markets are lying in the open as most of the grain mandis have very small covered areas as compared to the quantity of the wheat stocks lying there. Shivcharan Singh, an DISPROPORTIONATE ASSETS CASE VB yet to get assessment reports of ex-minister Soni’s properties Tribune News Service Amritsar, April 29 The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) has been awaiting the assessment report of the movable and immovable properties of former deputy chief minister OP Soni in an alleged disproportionate assets case. The Vigilance Bureau teams accompanied by PWD and other officials of other departments had conducted assessment of his hotel located in posh Ranjit Avenue locality along with his under-construction lavish farmhouse at D R enclave on Airport Road and his residence in Rani Ka Bagh area. The teams also visited a godown in Mudhal village, which was reportedly owned by the former senior Congress leader. The VB started a probe after a complaint was filed against him allegedly for amassing huge properties beyond his known sources of income. The government gave its nod for investiga- Former minister OP Soni tions following which the VB summoned Soni to appear before it. He appeared before the VB on November 29 during which he was asked to submit details of his movable and immovable assets. The VB reportedly prepared a list of properties belonging to him and his family members. In January, VB teams from Chandigarh accompanied by officials of other departments, including the PWD and the Forest Department, visited the listed properties to assess their values. A VB official wishing not to be named said they were waiting for the assessment reports of the assets. He said further action would be initiated only after getting those reports. During the 2007 state Assembly elections, as per his affidavit deposited while filing him nomination papers, Soni had declared his movable assets at Rs 1.94 crore, which increased to Rs 27.98 crore during the 2022 Punjab polls. Similarly, during the 2009 parliament polls he had declared his assets worth Rs 3.80 crore. During his stint as the Punjab health minister, allegations of hand sanitizer scam also cropped up after it was procured at three times higher rates than its actual cost. The Senior Superintendent of Police, Vigilance, Varinder Singh, said there was nothing to share at this moment as investigations were in progress. Soni had earlier refuted the charges, adding that they would cooperate with the Vigilance Bureau during investigations. arhtiya from Naushehra Pannua grain mandi in Tarn Taran district said, there was almost negligible lifting from the dana mandi ever since the start of the procurement season. “While the harvesting would be over within a week, the arthiyas and labourers continued on page 2 Ransom calls: Two booked Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, April 29 Two extortionists, who had demanded a ransom of ~15 lakh from a Tarn Taran resident on behalf of Canada-based infamous gangster Lakhbir Singh Landa, have been identified, as per the police. The two accused had demanded ~15 lakh from victim on April 12 Lakhbir Singh Landa, a resident of Harike, is running his module of gangsters from Canada. Vishesh Sharma, a resident of Guru Teg Bahadur locality, Tarn Taran, in his complaint to the police said the accused had demanded ransom from him on April 12 and had warned him of eliminating in case he denied to oblige them. He informed the police that he tried his best to locate the accused demanding ransom and succeeded to locate the accused, identified as Manpreet Singh Mannu of Pandori Gola and Jashanpreet Singh of Tharu village. A case was registered against the accused by the police on Friday.