16052023-ATR-01.qxd 5/16/2023 12:19 AM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 41°C | MIN 22°C YESTERDAY MAX 41°C | MIN 21°C GOVT TO SET UP ‘UNITY MALL’ TO PROMOTE HANDICRAFTS SHAKIRA NOT INTERESTED IN DATING TOM CRUISE: SOURCE WAMIQA GABBI TO STAR IN MODERN LOVE: CHENNAI To promote handicraft products of the state, the state government will set up a ‘Unity Mall’ in the city. P2 Shakira has no plans to date Tom Cruise, who has reportedly been romantically interested in her. P3 Wamiqa Gabbi will soon be seen as a part of one of the stories in Modern Love: Chennai. P4 » » » SUNSET TUESDAY 7.20 PM SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 5:33 AM TUESDAY | 16 MAY 2023 | AMRITSAR INBRIEF MAN ALLEGES POLICE INACTION Amritsar: A retired BSNL officer, Balkar Singh, has alleged police inaction in a case of dispute with his brother over damage of a tubewell at Jandiala. He said his brother Avtar Singh damaged pipes, wires and the power unit of his tubewell in August 2021. Balkar Singh said he owned two tubewells and Avtar Singh challenged this in the court. The court vindicated in his favour. "I have filed a complaint against Avtar Singh for damaging the tubewells. The police had filed proceedings under Sections 107 and 50 of the CrPC. I got bail from the SDM, but Avtar Singh did not appear before the magistrate. The Jandiala police should take action against him," demanded Balkar Singh. TNS Fundtwo months, PMIDC has not released thebus service crunch hits Metro promised grant of ~5 cr Even after Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 15 Despite the announcement, Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company (PMIDC) did not release fund for sustainability of Metro buses being run under the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in the city. The Metro bus service may suffer due to shortage of funds as staff of BRTS had recently demonstrated over their salaries. During the current Punjab Government’s budget session, Rs 5 crore was specifically sanctioned for the BRTS service, but even after two months, Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company has not released the budgetary funds to the Punjab Bus Metro Society, managing authorities of the BRTS. Owing to the financial Govt concerned only about paddy farmers, rue veggie & fruit growers Manmeet Singh Gill Tribune News Service problems, the necessary repairs and other maintenance of the buses is not being carried out. So due to the non-allocation of designated budgetary allocations to the company entrusted with the responsibility of running the Metro bus service, the public transport service is badly affected. Owing to the financial problems, the outsourced company did not transfer the salary amount into the accounts of the employees on due date. The agitating drivers threatened to go on strike and halt the Metro buses which would cause unnecessary Man held for assaulting airline woman crew member Amritsar, May 15 A passenger of the DubaiAmritsar Indigo flight was arrested for misbehaving with a member of the flight crew soon after he landed at Sri Guru Ram Dass Jee International here on Monday. The nabbed passenger was identified as Rajinder Singh, a resident of Kotli village in Jalandhar. According to information, the accused was travelling in a flight (number 6E 1428) of Indigo Airline, which reached Amritsar from Dubai. Rajinder Singh reportedly consumed liquor under influence of which he lost his temper and misbehaved with a crew member. As per the complaint lodged with the police by Ajay Kumar, assistant security manager of the airline, the accused assaulted a woman crew member under the influence of liquor. The accused was produced in a court which remanded him in judicial custody. — TNS inconvenience to more than 40,000 passengers. Local activists wrote to Local Bodies Minister Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar to ask PMIDC to release the sanctioned Rs 5 crore to the BRTS management. “This bus service is very helpful in reducing air pollution. Besides, the bus service is affordable and safe as compared to private diesel autos service. PIDMC should release more than the sanctioned amount (Rs 5 crore),” said Kulwant Singh. “At present, only 65 out of the 93 buses are running on continued on page 2 Heritage blast: Explosive-throwing scene recreated with accused rogated by the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA). During the investigation, it was found that before the blast and arrest, Azadbir Singh of Baba Bakala had spent a day in Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur respectively. The police suspect that Azadbir Singh had links with the smugglers involved in crossborder drug smuggling. The police are also investigating the call details and call locations of Azadbir Singh and Amrik Singh for the last three months to know their links, contacts and area of the movement. It is worth mentioning here that Azadbir Singh, Amrik Singh, firecracker dealer Sahib Singh alias Saba, Dharminder Singh and Harpreet Singh were arrested by the police for their alleged involvement in the three blasts near the Golden Temple last week. Accused Azadbir Singh and Amarjit Singh along with their two accomplices had bought explosives from firecracker dealer Sahib Singh. Amritsar, May 15 With the state government announcing the schedule for paddy transplantation and assuring farmers of providing them an eight-hour regular electricity supply for tubewells, vegetable and fruit growers have demanded that there is a need to watch the interests of other farmers too. They said on the one hand, the government was encouraging farmers to reduce the area under paddy crop as it required more water, but on the other, the electricity and canal water supply schedules were made as per the needs of paddy growers only. Harjinder Singh, a vegetable grower, said, “At present, most of the fruit and vegetable crops are in flowering stage and these require water twice every week.” He said the shortage of water for irrigation would badly affect the yield. He said the needs of other farmers should also be addressed. Apart from a regular eighthour electricity which would be given in Tarn Taran district after June 16 and in Amritsar district after June 19, the water in the canal irrigation channels is also released as per the needs of paddy cultivators. The state government has allowed paddy transplantation in Tarn Taran after June 16 and in Amritsar after June 19. After 35 years, advertisement wing gets truck Drive to detect fake DTF starts two-day signature 2 injured after being GSTINs begins today campaign in wrestlers’ support shot at in Tarn Taran Vegetable and fruit growers say the state government has assured the paddy farmers of providing them an uninterrrupted eight-hour power supply, but who cares about their well-being. Tribune News Service Sandeep Rishi flags off the truck in Amritsar on Monday. Amritsar, May 15 After a long wait of 35 years, the advertisement wing of the Municipal Corporation has been provided a new truck for removing illegal hoardings. The truck which was being used to remove advertisement hoardings and boards posted illegally was in a poor condition due to being old. Employees of the advertisement department had to face huge problems. The department officials discussed this problem with MC Commissioner Sandeep Rishi demanding a new truck. The new truck, bought for Rs 40 lakh, was flagged off today by Municipal Corporation Commissioner Sandeep Rishi at Ranjit Avenue office. Officers of the advertisement wing expressed their gratitude to the Commissioner and Joint Commissioner Hardeep Singh. — TNS Amritsar, May 15 With the Central and state tax administrations starting a door-to-door drive against fake and suspicious GSTIN registrations from May 16, local GST dealers are reluctantly preparing documents to escape last-time frenzy. During the two-month-long drive, officials of the CBIC may visit business premises to fathom the ground situation. The purpose is to detect suspicious registrations and suspend their GST numbers. Taxation experts are advising GST dealers to display the names of the business with GST numbers at the premises, keep a soft and hard copies of the last three filed returns, sales and purchase verification. During the drive if it is detected that the GST registration was taken on the forged documents like electricity bill, property receipts, rent agreements, with dummy mobile numbers linked with Aadhaar then it would invite strict action. It is feared that fake GSTINs pass on Input Tax Credit fraudulently to recipients without the actual supply of goods and services to The farmers demanded that at least a four-hour power supply should be made available during all seasons so that farmers could be encouraged to cultivate vegetable and fruit crops. Harman Singh from Jandiala, another farmer, said, “The power supply remained shut during the daytime during wheat harvesting time to avoid fire accidents.” He added prevent revenue loss to the government. Meanwhile, the Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal (PPBM) voiced concern against the drive and feared that it would lead to exploitation of the dealers. Sunil Mehra, an office-bearer, said when the verification was done before allotting GST number, repeating the exercise defies the logic. Traders also fear exploitation at the hands of officials. Traders are afraid that this campaign of the department will only promote corruption and the companies which are continuously filing their GST returns every month and have completed the verification process at the time of getting GST numbers. Tarsem Kataria urged the government to cancel this verification process and help the traders to progress in business. He said documents like PAN card, GST certificate, Aadhaar card, etc, to be verified were already available with the department. He said the verification process was in contravention to the government’s Ease of Doing Business initiative. He added that traders were already suffering from complex GST compliance. that even now sometimes the power supply was being given in the night, which causes flooding in vegetable fields. Lakhbir Singh Nizampura, president, Vegetable Growers’ Association, said, “PSPCL supply power to the areas which are known as vegetable belts. But problems are faced by farmers who sow vegetable crops outside these belts.” The entire scene was recreated with the help of the accused, Azadbir Singh, under the supervision of police officials. Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 15 In the Heritage Street blasts case, the city police recreated a scene of throwing explosives down from the Saragarhi parking lot at Heritage Street near the Golden Temple on Sunday. During this, the police also brought the main accused of the blasts, Azadbir Singh, to the spot. The entire scene was recreated by Azadbir Singh under the supervision of the police. Not only this, the angle from which the photograph was taken was also scrutinised. Police officials were not allowed to capture the scene for the media. At present, all five accused are being inter- Our Correspondent Members of the DTF during a signature campaign in Amritsar on Monday. TRIBUNE PHOTO Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 15 Members of the Democratic Teachers’ Front (DTF), Punjab, have come forward in support of the wrestlers sitting in protest at Jantar Mantar against the Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan. The teachers in all government schools ran a two-day signature campaign in Amritsar in solidarity with the wrestlers and students and staff members were asked to participate. Ashwani Awasthi, DTF state finance secretary-cumdistrict president, said around 800 schools in the district participated in the campaign. c m y b “We have managed to get thousands of teachers and students come out in support of the women sportspersons of the country, who are being denied justice. The allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct are serious and swift action must be taken against the perpetrators. Instead of arresting the head of the Indian Wrestling Federation according to a fair investigation, the accused are being protected by the Central Government.” DTF leaders, including Kanwaljit Kaur Chhajalwadi, Aman Sharma, Harpal Singh Chandi, Amanpreet Singh, Sanjeev Syal and Jaspal Singh, said the women were demanding that those who indulged in sexual misconduct case should be removed from all positions. “Many sports federations, associations and boards in the country are dominated by people with political access, serious criminal background and feudal mentality. Therefore, only ex-players with a background of national or international level sporting achievements should be appointed to these posts,” said Kanwaljit Kaur Chhajalwadi. The DTF members will now be submitting these signatures to the Punjab Education Minister and will travel to Delhi to join the protesting wrestlers. Tarn Taran, May 15 Two persons were injured after they were shot at in Tarn Taran town on Saturday night in two different firing incidents. Sources said here on Monday that Dilpreet Singh, a resident of Muradpur locality in the town, working as a helper in a shop was on way back home on foot when two motorcycle-borne persons fired at him. He ran away to escape himself when the assailants fired one more shot at him leaving him injured in one leg. He was admitted to the local Civil Hospital from where he was referred to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, Amritsar, and after giving treatment he was sent back to the Civil Hospital where his condition was stated to be stable. The bullet was still stuck in his leg. The police (city) have registered a case under Sections 307 and 34 of the IPC and Sections 25, 52 and 59 of the Arms Act against unidentified persons. In the second incident, Satnam Singh Vicky of the local Muradpur locality, was injured after being shot at by three motorcycle-borne per- Injured Dilpreet Singh under treatment at the Civil Hospital in Tarn Taran. sons of his locality. He was admitted to a private hospital in Amritsar. He was moving in his locality when the accused fired at him leaving him injured. The assailants were identified as Jugraj Singh Jajja, Malkit Singh Gollu and Ajay Ghora. Old rivalry between the two groups was being cited as the reason behind the incident. He was being treated at a private hospital in Amritsar. The accused have been booked by the police (city) under Sections 307 and 34 of the IPC and Sections 25, 52 and 59 of the Arms Act. The accused are at large. SHO Sagar Banaal PPS said he himself was investigating both cases.