02052023-ATR-01.qxd 5/2/2023 12:08 AM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST MAINLY CLOUDY ASR MC CONTINUES TO ACT AGAINST ILLEGAL BUILDINGS ARYAN TO MAKE DIRECTORIAL DEBUT WITH SHOW STARDOM THE MORNING SHOW RENEWED FOR SEASON FOUR AT APPLE TV+ As part of an ongoing drive, the MC is continuing to take action against illegal buildings in the city. P2 The six-episode series is produced by Aryan Khan’s home production Red Chillies Entertainment. P3 Apple is in talks with Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon to extend their contracts with the series. P4 » » » MAX 26°C | MIN 20°C YESTERDAY MAX 26°C | MIN 21°C SUNSET TUESDAY 7.11 PM SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 5:43 AM TUESDAY | 2 MAY 2023 | AMRITSAR INBRIEF ROBBERS SNATCH TOURIST'S PURSE Amritsar: Two scooter-borne persons snatched the purse of a tourist, who along with her family members, had come to Amritsar to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple. Sweety, the victim, told the police that they were looking for a hotel and standing on the RS tower street when two scooter-borne persons snatched her purse containing Rs 5,000, a mobile phone and some documents. The police have registered a case. TNS MAN ROBBED OF SCOOTER, CASH Amritsar: Two unknown persons robbed a local resident, identified as Ashish Chugh, of a scooter and ~23,000 cash on Sunday. The victim said at around 5.15 am, he had come to pay obeisance at a shrine near Taranwala pul. He said when he crossed Alpha one mall, two bike-borne persons came and snatched his scooter and cash. The police have registered a case. TNS Residents: New office timings not suitable Manmeet gill Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 1 With the new timings for the government department offices becoming effective from May 2, a section of employees feel that it would not serve the purpose as the temperatures have not so far increased to the extent it was anticipated when the government had announced the decision. As per the new office timings, the government offices except for Seva Kendras would open at 7.30 am and close at 2 pm. The government had taken the decision to conserve power consumption during the summer season. The Seva Kendras would continue to open from 9 am to 5 pm. Residents say reaching government offices for their work early in the morning, especially from rural areas where people are still dependent on government and private buses, is a difficult task. Employees too say that reach- ing the office at 7.30 am is difficult for employees as they have to send their children to school and complete other household chores before leaving for offices. “It would only result in employees coming late to offices. Besides, people from far-off areas would not be able to reach these offices due to odd timings,” said Dr Satnam Singh Ajnala of the Jamhoori Kisan Sabha. He said instead of changing the office working timings, the government could have used other methods to conserve electricity. He said demand for electricity in the state would increase only after the beginning of the transplantation of paddy. “The paddy transplantation would start only after June 10. If the government is unable to supply electricity in May, how it would manage in the months of June and July when the power consumption is at peak,” said Kewal Singh, another farmer. Conferences mark Labour Day in city The plight of poor working people is getting worse, says Punjabi writer Davinder Tribune News Service CITU workers celebrate day in Tarn Taran Amritsar, May 1 The Communist Party of India (CPI) along with All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) organised events at different places in the district to observe Labour Day here on Monday. The party held gatherings at Chheharta, Haripura, Batala Road, Bhai Manjh Singh Road, Milk Plant, the bus stand, Municipal Corporation Workshop and PSPCL offices. CPI leader Amarjit Singh Asal said May Day had great importance in the history of the working people and in current times it should be used as a day to evaluate the working of the government. He said in India the BJP government was bending every labour law to benefit the corporate sector. He accused the state government of not increasing the minimum wages of the workers for a long time. Asal also exhorted the workers to unite and fight for their rights. Tarn Taran: Activists of different political parties, farmers , students, labour unions, and employees of different industries on Monday organised functions and paid tributes to the martyrs of Chicago on International Labour Day. Certain schools too celebrated the day and put light on the importance of Labour Day. Activists of the CPI organised a political conference in Chabal in which party leader Devinder Sohal, while addressing on the occasion, said with the passing of more than 75 years of Independence, the state machinery had failed to provide better working conditions to the labour class. Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) leaders Sukhdev Singh Gohalwar, Heera Singh Kandianwala and others, while addressing the gathering on the occasion, stressed the need for continued on page 2 Members of the Communist Party of India raise slogans in Amritsar on Monday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR Many other social and political organisations also organized events at different places in the district to mark May Day on Monday. In another event organised by the Joint Platform of Mass Organisations (JPMO) outside the railway station, members of different organisations congratulated the workers for working towards a better future. ‘Sexual exploitation’: Farmers to extend support to wrestlers Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 1 The Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) had extended support to the wrestlers sitting on a protest in Delhi. Sukhwinder Singh Sabran and Rana Ranbir Singh, state president and state general secretary, respectively, of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee said they had decided to sit in support of the wrestlers at Jantar Mantar in Delhi for justice. Sukhwinder Singh Sabran said the BJP was defending Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who was accused of sexual harassment. It had exposed their attitude towards Unanimity on complying with Akal Takht guidelines Amritsar, May 1 After the representatives of Nirmaliye, Sindhi, Udasin and other sects associated with Sikhism unanimously decided to comply with the guidelines issued by the Akal Takht during the Parkash of Guru Granth Sahib, the sub-committee handed over its report to the Akal Takht to take a final call in the matter. The sub-committee took the decision after holding a meeting with the representatives of all these sects at the SGPC office here recently. The Akal Takht had appointed the sub-committee following complaints of possible law and order problems as members of the Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Committee raided those places where they doubted non-compliance of the norms in the installation of Guru Granth Sahib. Akal Takht honorary secretary Gurmeet Singh, appointed coordinator of the sub-committee, said the Akal Takht had not authorised any organisation to forcibly remove Guru Granth Sahib from any place. — TNS KMSC leaders Sukhwinder Singh Sabran and Rana Ranbir Singh. women once again, besides proving that slogans like ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ were only part of the propaganda and the policies of the government were on the contrary. Sabran alleged this was not the first time that a BJP leader was involved in sexual exploitation, there was a long list that included Kuldeep Sengar (UP), Bhoj- pal Singh (Madhya Pradesh), Jayesh Patel (Gujarat), and Shah Nawaz Hussain (Delhi), who were involved in such cases. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tweets everything, was silent on the issue. It was an insult to the women of the country. “The image of Brij Bhushan is already very bad as he has several criminal cases registered against him. It was a wrong decision to appoint such faces as the head of the wrestling federation. The KMSC is with the women wrestlers struggling against Brij Bhushan and we ask the government to listen to the protesters and meet their demands,” said KMSC general secretary Rana Ranbir. Fogging campaign to start soon in city Amritsar, May 1 Considering recent spells of rain and the continuing low temperature, the municipal corporation has decided to take steps to stop the breeding of mosquitoes in the city. Taking timely action this year, the MC has prepared the roster for fogging and is going to start it in various areas of the city to prevent the spread of dengue and malaria. The health wing of the MC has constituted teams to start fogging in areas where it is required. Health wing teams has visit- ed slums and areas marked as mosquito breeding hotspots. Officials of the wing claim that they have a sufficient quantity of insecticides, which will be used for the anti-mosquito drive, besides machines and other equipment. MC Medical Officer Dr Rama said the MC had six automated fogging machines and six hand-fogging machines ready to be used in all five assembly constituencies of the city. The Health Department has alerted the malaria and dengue wing as patients are reaching hospitals with the problems of mild fever and low platelets. electricity had become unaffordable for the poor. Local writers and intellectuals too organised an event at Ram Bagh here. Speaking at the event, Deep Davinder, a Punjabi writer, said poets and writers had a duty to highlight the plight of the working class. The plight of poor working people was getting worse and writers should not sit back and do something. VEHICLE FITNESS CERTIFICATE SCAM VB submits report to higher-ups Tribune News Service The club and bar restaurant on Airport Road in Amritsar. Club charged extra VAT, allege customers Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 1 Customers, who recently organised a party at a private club equipped with a bar on the Airport road, alleged that they were charged excess VAT and illegal liquor was sold to them at exorbitant rates. Balvinder Singh Balli of RPB Wine Group alleged that Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) brought from Chandigarh and Haryana at low rates was being sold at a bar-cumrestaurant on the airport road. The move deprived government of its share of revenue. continued on page 2 Amritsar, May 1 Eight months after a team of the Vigilance Bureau (VB) conducted raids at the office of motor vehicle inspector in Amritsar and Gurdaspur over allegations of irregularities in issuing of vehicle fitness certificates, the VB has submitted its reports with the higher authorities for further necessary action. The Punjab Government has directed the Vigilance Department to hold a probe into the practice of issuing fitness certificates of the vehicles without proper physical checking allegedly after taking a bribe. The step was taken after a similar scam was unearthed in Sangrur district in August last year. Following this the state govern- ment had ordered simultaneous raids in different districts, including Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Ferozepur, Faridkot, Mansa, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur. During the raid, the Vigilance Bureau nabbed a motor vehicle inspector posted in Jalandhar, Naresh Kaler, and two private agents Rampal and Mohan Lal. The bureau also recovered Rs 12.50 lakh of bribe amount and confiscated documents pertaining to suspicious issuance of fitness certificates to vehicles. The VB had confiscated records pertaining to the vehicle fitness certificates and grilled MVI Davinder Singh at that time. The Vigilance sleuths found that hundreds of fitness certificates for commercial vehicles were issued which was practically Shranay tops dist in JEE (Main) Woman accuses husband, in-laws Hitesh, Vansham, Sujal & Hardik also qualify for JEE (Adv) of poisoning Tribune News Service daughter Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Central Trade Union (CTU) leader Jagtar Singh Karampura said in recent times, the capitalist forces backed by the elected government had become very powerful and they were now in a position to influence government policies. He alleged with the government following neoliberal policies, public services such as health, education, water supply and Amritsar, May 1 In a shocking incident, a married woman has accused her husband, an army man and in-laws of allegedly attempting poisoning her daughter. Following her complaint, the police have booked the suspects, including her husband Kuldeep Singh, fatherin-law and mother-in-law, Balwinder Singh and Rajwinder Kaur, respectively and Kuldeep’s brother Gurdeep Singh, all residents of Makowal village falling under the Ramdas police station area here. The police have registered a case under Sections 307 and 120-B of the IPC in this connection, while further investigations were under progress. No arrest was made till now. Jagroop Kaur, the complainant, alleged that she was married to Kuldeep Singh, an army man, around six years ago. She alleged she had two daughters – Manroz Kaur (4) and Sehajpreet Kaur (seven continued on page 2 c m y b Amritsar, May 1 Success isn’t overnight! It’s when everyday you get a little better than the day before. It all adds up! This seems true for the JEE (Main) 2023 achievers who are celebrating their hard work as the National Testing Agency (NTA) declared the Session 2 results. Shranay Malhotra, a student of DAV Public School, Lawrence Road, is among the district toppers, scoring 99.78 percentile in the Session 2 results. Shranay, who wants to pursue computer engineering, has a keen interest in AI-technology and aspires to be a part of the next generation of tech-wizards. He wants to pursue engineering from IIT Mumbai, Delhi or IIIT, Hyderabad. “It’s incredible when your hard work and planning gives results. I am an early riser and so I used to wake up early, dedicate half a day to my studies and also take time out to de-stress by playing with my pet dog. I was always interested in Shranay Malhotra with his parents in Amritsar on Monday. technological developments with Maths being my favourite subject; AI and computer analytics seemed quite lucrative to me as a career,” he said. Shranay credits his success in cracking JEE to his family’s support. “My parents were a big support to me and so was my elder brother, who is currently pursuing BCom (Honours) from Mumbai,” he says. His father Nitin Malhotra is a businessman and mother is a teacher. Shranay will now be prepar- ing for JEE-Advanced now. Hitesh Khanna of Holy Heart Presidency School also cracked JEE-Mains by scoring 99.72 percentile and brought honour to the school as well as his parents. He has qualified successfully for JEE (Advanced). Students of Sri Ram Ashram Public School, including Vansham Mahajan (97.6 percentile), Sujal (96.23 percentile), Hardik (96.15 percentile) and others also qualified for JEE Advanced. impossible. As per the norms, the vehicles were to be physically inspected by MVI staff before issuing the fitness certificate, which is mandatory to ply the vehicle on road. A Vigilance official wishing not to be named said that practically MVI staff can physically inspect 6-8 vehicles in a day, but going by the number of certificates issued during the recent past, it seemed that no procedures were followed in issuing them. There were certain irregularities, he added. SSP Vigilance Varinder Singh confirmed that a report had been sent to higher officials at Chandigarh for further necessary action. He refused to divulge the details of the report while adding that appropriate action would be taken in this connection. Undertrial flees police custody in Tarn Taran Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, May 1 An undertrial escaped the custody of the Sri Goindwal Sahib police here on Saturday. The accused had been identified as Jashandeep Singh, a resident of Khakh village, who was arrested by the Goindwal Sahib police on April 25 in a theft case. He was brought to be produced in the court of Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM), Khadoor Sahib, on Saturday. The accused hit the constable and fled Sub-Inspector Lakhbir Singh said the accused asked them to allow him to answer the call of nature and constable Inderjit Singh accompanied him to the toilet. On way to the toilet, he hit the constable and fled the spot. The undertrial, arrested in a theft case, had been booked under Section 224 of the Indian Penal Code.