01052023-LT-01.qxd 5/1/2023 12:56 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune NEUTER STRAY DOGS, PROMOTE ADOPTION: RESIDENTS ADELE SUPPORTS ‘FIANCE’ AT LAKERS BASKETBALL GAME Adele recently supported her alleged ‘fiance’ Rich Paul at an NBA game in Los Angeles. P3 GENERALLY CLOUDY MAX 28°C | MIN 20°C YESTERDAY MAX 32°C | MIN 19°C SALMAN KHAN ADMITS HE HAS BEEN UNLUCKY IN LOVE Construct more animal shelters in city, vaccinate canines againstrabies to check the menace, say residents. P2 FORECAST Bollywood superstar Salman Khan recently admitted that he has been ‘unlucky in love’. P4 » » SUNSET MONDAY 7.05 PM SUNRISE TUESDAY 5.41 AM » MONDAY | 1 MAY 2023 | LUDHIANA DEATH OF ELEVEN PERSONS AFTER INHALING TOXIC GAS IN GIASPURA Settled in city for decades, migrant families struck by tragedy in seconds Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, April 30 The inconsolable kin of the deceased migrant families could not believe the incident which snuffed out the lives of 11 persons, including three children and an unidentified person, within a few minutes allegedly after inhaling toxic gas emanating from a sewer on the Sua road in Giaspura here on Sunday morning. Notably in Giaspura several migrants from Bihar, UP and other places have set up their businesses. Ambu Yadav, cousin of Dr Kavilash (40), who along with his wife Varsha (35) died in the tragedy, told The Tribune that “My cousin, a native of Bihar, had been settled in Ludhiana for the past over two decades. Initially when he moved to Ludhiana, he faced hardships for years. For the past around 10 years, Kavilash had set up his own clinic, ‘Aarti Clinic’, and also built his own house in Giaspura. His children Kalpana (16), Abhay (13) and Aryan (10), who also died in the mishap, were studying in reputed schools. The tragedy has finished everything for them in minutes.” Kavilash’s parents live in Police at the scene where the tragedy occurred on Sua road in Giaspura on Sunday. HIMANSHU MAHAJAN ENVIRONMENTALIST COLONEL GILL RAISES CONCERN AGAIN Meanwhile, environmentalist Col JS Gill suggests that it was time to issue an order for a detailed sewerage outlet chemical audit. He had already been raising the issue for the past some time. The audit is a must to avoid deaths due to such incidents. Wailing kin of five deceased of a family. Bihar. He and his family had plans to visit Bihar to meet his parents this week but unfortunately God had decided something else for them. Ashwani Kumar, cousin of deceased Navneet Kumar (39), who also died along with his wife Neetu Devi (37) in the incident, said Navneet, a native of Bihar, had achieved huge success in the industrial hub as he was working as an accountant in reputed firm Aarti Steels and he had plans to set up his own accounting firm. His brother Nitin Kumar (40), an employee of Tata company in Bikaner, had yesterday came to meet him but unfortunately he too met with the tragedy and was undergoing treatment in a critical condition. On May 9, the couple had to visit their native place in Bihar to attend a marriage function of their relative and they were preparing for the same, reveals inconsolable Ashwani. Sourav Goyal (35), a native of Aligarh, UP who owned , Goyal Karyana Store, also died along with his wife Preety (31) and mother Kamlesh Goyal (60) in the tragedy. “The family of Sourav Goyal has been running a good grocery and milk product store for the past over 20 years. They used to open their store at 4 am daily. Gaurav (deceased Sourav’s brother) was inside the house when he heard the cries of other family members but when he came to enquire, he saw them lying dead. He too inhaled the toxic gas and became unconscious on the road,” claims an eyewitness and a friend of Sourav (35). Sourav (35) was a native of Aligarh, UP who owned Goy, al Karyana Store, also died along with his wife Preety (31) and mother Kamlesh Goyal (60) in the tragedy. Eyewitnesses said some victims who were alive were crying for help. Scattered bodies spread panic among helpless area residents Tribune News Service Ludhiana, April 30 Scattered bodies on the road witnessed a horrific scene at Giaspura on Sunday morning. Panicked area residents could not understand what led to the death of these people. When the 11 persons died and four fallen sick after they inhaled some toxic gas, nearby residents had raised an alarm and informed the police. One of the eyewitnesses, Arvind, whose house is only 150m away from the scene, said as it was Sunday, he was going to play cricket with his friends in the morning. At around 7 am, when he reached the grocery store owned by deceased Sourav Goyal, he saw people lying unconscious on the ground. Initially, he thought it could be a road accident case. “Some people were calling for help. When I reached close to them, I also started feeling dizzy due to the strong smell of the toxic gas. Arvind said somehow, he gathered courage and ran away from the place to save himself. Afterwards, he raised the alarm and also informed the police about the matter. Police personnel arrived at the Police officials talk to kin of the deceased at the Civil Hospital in Ludhiana on Sunday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: HIMANSHU MAHAJAN CONG, BJP LEADERS DEMAND PROBE Ishwarjot Singh Cheema, senior Congress leader, has demanded a highlevel inquiry into the horrific gas tragedy. The accident occurred due to the negligence of illegal industrial activities rampant in the area. Senior BJP leader Amarjit Tikka said a judicial inquiry should be ordered in the case and officials of the MC and the Pollution Control Board should be punished. Instead of ~2 lakh compensation for the next of kin of the deceased, the relief amount should be raised to ~5 lakh along with a government job. scene within about 10 minutes. Two police officials, who went close to the bodies, also felt dizzy and they had to take medical help. In air quality sensors used by an NDRF team, high levels of hydrogen sulphide gas have been detected and it might have led to the tragic incident, said an official release issued by the administration. Another eyewitness Shivam said after Arvind told him about the incident, he went to Goyal store to help people, where seven-eight persons were lying on the ground. By then, the impact of gas had diminished. A tea vendor said his vend was located about 200 m away from the place where the toxic gas was spread. He was making a tea. His customers after sensing strong smell had also left the spot, suspecting the continued on page 2 Woman, three others land in Civic body, LIT in dock over fixing interlocking tiles police net for killing paramour Kuldip Bhatia Tribune News Service Ludhiana, April 30 A woman was among the four persons arrested by the Jamalpur police today on the charge of killing her paramour. The suspects had allegedly committed the crime on the intervening night of April 28-29, and had later burnt the body of the victim in fields. The arrested suspects have been identified as Ramandeep Kaur, alias Ramni, of Sarpanch colony, her husband Sandeep Nagpal, Prince Kumar of Bathinda and Shivam of Moga. Akash of Ferozepur, who is also one of the suspects, is still at large. Jamalpur SHO Bikramjit SUSPECTS HAD BURNT VICTIM’S BODY Victim’s wife Surjit Kaur, the complainant in the case, said Ramandeep, along with her husband and others, had brutally killed her husband and later dumped his body in the fields and set it on fire by pouring some inflammable substance. Singh said on April 29, a burnt body was recovered from the fields on Bhukhri road. After the deceased was identified as Satwinder Singh, his wife Surjit Kaur told the police that her husband had an affair with Ramandeep Kaur and he had also allegedly given a huge amount of money to the woman. The victim’s wife suspected the role of Ramandeep behind the murder. She told the police that recently her husband had asked Ramandeep to return his money. She had turned furious and threatened to kill him. The complainant said Ramandeep, along with her husband and others, had brutally killed Satwinder and later dumped his body in the fields and set it on fire by pouring some inflammable substance. The suspects had also allegedly kept the Verna car of the victim with them. The car has been seized by the police. Ludhiana, April 30 The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice of motion to the Municipal Corporation (MC) through its Commissioner and the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) through its Chairman to submit replies by way of explanation within two months of the date of order for fixing solid impermeable interlocking tiles along roads in the city in violation of the norms and provisions made in the law. The corporation and the LIT would also be required to submit a tentative schedule for the replacement of these tiles with permeable/semi-permeable — with holes (perforated tiles), covering an area of not exceeding five per cent of the total area along roadsides. The matter would be taken up for Concrete interlocking tiles have been fixed by MC and LIT across city. NGT issues notice of motion, seeks explanation next hearing on July 10, 2023. Making orders on petition filed by Yogesh Maini and Jaskirat Singh on April 24, 2023, the Bench of Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi and expert member Dr Afroz Ahmad took note of the averment made by the petitioners that the respondents — MC and LIT — had fixed solid impermeable concrete tiles on the roadsides in violation of provisions made in the NGT Act, 2010, which clearly laid down that perforated interlocking tiles ought to be fixed along the road, that too in not over five per cent of the total available area along the roads. “It has also been laid down that the remaining area along the roads has to be converted into green buffers by planting shrubs and chosen varieties of plants and arrangements need to be made for storm water drainage from the roads,” asserted the petitioners. It was further submitted in the petition that the code relating to urban drainage has not been followed. Level of sides of the road should be lower than the metallic portion of the roads so as to avoid waterlogging during the rainy season. There being no storm water drainage network in the city, no space was being left for percolation of water into the earth surface due to which the rainwater went into the sewerage disposal network system situated on the both sides of the road. “Moreover, with higher level of interlocking tiles - above road level, the rainwater which was supposed to enter the earth surface, took longer time to drainoff into the sewerage disposal system, leading to damage of roads,” the petition stated. Further, the NGT noted that prima facie, averments made in the application raised questions relating to environment arising out of the implementation of the enactments specified in Schedule I to the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010. “Since the applicants have highlighted adverse impacts of the laying of concrete (including impermeable solid interlocking tiles), causing serious damage to the environment and various orders passed by the Tribunal, the issue needed to be addressed,” observed the NGT. Khanna police complex walls painted with social messages No positive Covid First-of-its-kind initiative is brainchild of SSP Amneet Kondal case in district Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, April 30 Taking a first-of-its-kind initiative to spread socially relevant awareness messages among the masses, the Khanna police have painted walls of its district police complex premises with several such messages. The initiative is being applauded by those visiting the police complex. A brainchild of Senior Superintendent of Police, Khanna, Amneet Kondal, the entire premises was refurbished by painting it with educative messages on socially relevant topics such as prevention of crime against weaker sections, ills of drunken driving, drug deaddiction, importance of traffic rules, need for environment conservation, no to A talented artist was roped in by the Khanna police for the painstaking artwork. TRIBUNE PHOTOS child marriage yes to school, no to female foeticide, message to encourage women to dial women helpline number 181 without any hesitation, to name a few. Talking to The Tribune on Friday, Kondal said a talented artist, native of police district, Khanna, was roped in for the painstaking work. It was done with a view to informing and educating citizens against social evils as well as improving aesthetic outlook of the district police complex premises. The artist took three c m y b weeks and concluded the artwork on Friday. “The district police complex premises had plain walls. I decided to give a catchy look to the premises by painting some social relevent messages. It will give positive vibes to people visiting the premises and the same will also educate them,” the SSP said. She said though most of the messages were written in Punjabi language, messages in other languages such as English and Hindi were also written for those who were not able to read Punjabi. Superintendent of Police (Investigation) Pragya Jain said the paintings also have a message of gender neutral police force depicting uniformed male and female police officials. The police would continue to take such initiatives in future as well. Sources said the Khanna police might also spread the initiative in all police stations falling in its jurisdiction. FIGURES Tribune News Service Ludhiana, April 30 No positive case of Covid was reported in the district on Sunday. Civil Surgeon Hitinder Kaur said a total of 1,14,369 persons have tested positive and 3,025 patients have lost their lives to the deadly virus since March 2020 in the district. On Sunday, 312 samples were sent for testing and all were antigen samples. At present, there are 138 active cases and five persons suffering from Covid are admitted to hospitals in the district. Civil Surgeon Hitinder Samples Positive Deaths 41,08,616 1,14,369 3,025 FOR ANY INFORMATION RELATED TO COVID Contact 0161-2444193 0161-4622276 Kaur appealed to the residents to adhere to all the Covid safety protocols to save themselves and others.