20052023-ATR-01.qxd 20-05-2023 00:24 Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune PRIMARY, MIDDLE SCHOOLS FACE STAFF SHORTAGE IN DIST SALMAN KHAN GETS INJURED WHILE TRAINING FOR TIGER 3 The Bollywood actor took to social media to a picture with kinesiology tape on one shoulder. P3 MAINLY CLEAR MAX 40°C | MIN 23°C YESTERDAY MAX 38°C | MIN 22°C MUSKAN TALKS ABOUT HER SERIES, INSPECTOR AVINASH Government primary and middle schools in the district are struggling to cope with teacher shortage. P2 FORECAST Actress Muskan Verma made her OTT debut with the series Inspector Avinash. P4 » » SUNSET SATURDAY 7.23 PM SUNRISE SUNDAY 5:30 AM » SATURDAY | 20 MAY 2023 | AMRITSAR INBRIEF 10 CELL PHONES SEIZED FROM JAIL Amritsar: The central jail authorities confiscated 10 mobile phones from inmates during surprise checking in the jail complex here on Thursday. According to first information report lodged by Nareshpal Singh, assistant superintendent jail, members of the jail staff seized one phone each from Mohmmad Shakeel, Mohmmad Aslam, Mohammad Akhlak, Kelwin Amas, Shabir Husssain, Amjad Ali, Abdul Majid and Raffique Mohammad while two mobiles were seized from Akbar Masih. A case under Sections 42 and 52-A of the Prison Act was registered against them. TNS 45-YR-OLD MAN FOUND DEAD Tarn Taran: Mahinga Singh (45), a resident of Takhtuchack village was found murdered under mysterious circumstances on Wednesday night. He had gone out the same day on his motorcycle and was found seriously injured at his Sarlli village. He was brought to a private hospital in Amritsar but succumbed to his injuries. The doctors declared him brought dead. A case under Section 302 of IPC has been registered on the statement of Ranjit Kaur, wife of the deceased, said Upkar Singh, SHO Verowal. OC Out on bail, murder convict kills wife over ‘infidelity’ Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, May 19 A man of the local Master Colony brutally murdered his wife with a sharp-edged weapon after being suspicious of her fidelity at his residence here on Thursday. The deceased has been identified as Simran Kaur Simmu (40) and the accused as Baljinder Singh Binder. The accused, serving a sentence in a murder case, had come out of prison on parole. Sources said that it was the rarest of rare case when a person serving sentence for murder committed the same nature crime while out on parole. Notably, victim Simran Kaur and her elder sister Harmit Kaur were married in the same family as the accused Baljinder Singh is the real younger brother of Jaspreet Singh, hus- The house where the crime was committed in Tarn Taran. band of Harmit Kaur. Both brothers, Jaspreet Singh and Baljinder Singh, are service sentence in a murder case. A few days ago, Baljinder Singh had come out of prison on parole. On Thursday night, Baljinder Singh and his wife Simran Kaur indulged in a verbal duel over her alleged illicit relations and the accused attacked her with a sharpedged datar. When Simran raised the alarm to save her, her mother Ram Piari, a resident of Gugran (Pathankot) who had come to see her daughters, and her elder daughter rushed downstairs. They saw Baljinder Singh hitting Simran with the datar on the head, neck and other parts of the body. Soon there was blood all over the room. The DSP (City), Tarn Taran, said a police team rushed to the spot soon after receiving the information. The DSP said a case under Sections 302 and 303 of the IPC had been registered in this regard. After conducting the postmortem at the local Civil Hospital, the body was handed over to the parents. As Harmit Kaur, sister of the victim, with her mother at Gugran to cremate the body, the house had to be locked. Dog bites woman, police book owner Amritsar, May 19 In a bizarre incident, the police have booked a man after his pet dog bit a woman during her morning walk in Boparai Khurd village falling under Lopoke police station here. The incident occurred on May 3, but a complaint was lodged with the police on Thursday. Victim Paramjit Kaur said she was having a walk Give us our dues around 5 am when accused Gurnam Singh of the same village was bitten his pet dog. A case under Section 289, IPC, was registered against Gurnam Singh. — TNS 325 meters found stashed; PSPCL officials under lens PK Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 19 Two days after the recovery of a huge quantity of missing power cables and other equipment worth lakhs of rupees from two private godowns, the enforcement wing of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) made another recovery of unaccounted power meters from a room in the Ghee Mandi power subdivision here. The two godowns from where the seizure was made were located on the premises, allegedly hired by a junior engineer, of a shrine near Ghee Mandi gate area. The incident has brought the spotlight on alleged negligence of senior officials of the department and many heads are likely to roll while preparing and filing the final report in the case. Sources alleged that the officials failed to fulfil their duty and check the suspicious activities of the Junior Engineer. The meters were allegedly collected in the last 10 years. On Friday, the enforcement wing seized 325 unaccounted The power meters were kept in a room of the Ghee Mandi power subdivision in Amritsar on Friday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR power meters which were never deposited with the department. These meters should have been submitted to the ME laboratory of PSPCL for checking power theft, said an official wishing not to be named. Besides these unaccounted power meters, the enforcement wing also recovered a huge quantity of scrap from the room which was under the supervision of the JE. Ideally, it is the duty of an executive engineer and SDO to check the records and supervise the functioning of lower-rank officials. Nevertheless they failed to fulfil their moral duty. Ironically, the said JE remained posted at the same subdivision for the past 16 years raising a question mark, the sources said. “These power meters seized by the department should have been sent to the ME laboratory for Police arrest travel Court rejects anticipatory bail plea agent for visa fraud of RB Estate owner in case of fraud Tribune News Service AITUC brick kiln workers raise slogans during a rally organised on the occasion of the Hind Mazdoor Sabha’s 75th anniversary in Amritsar on Friday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR Pathankot, May 19 Continuing its run against fraudulent travel agents, the Pathankot police today arrested one Jasvir Singh who was involved in getting fake Argentina visas stamped on the passports of his clients after taking huge sums of money. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh said Jasvir was arrested following the complaint of a victim that he had been duped. “The police got in touch with the Argentinian embassy in New Delhi through e-mail. We showed them the visa stamped on the passport of the victim. Within no time, they informed us that the visa was fake. We then decided to zero in on Jasvir. I have formed a special team which deals with sham travel agents. I assigned them this task too following which we stumbled on information that led us to as many as 25 more victims. All these people belong to the lower and middle strata of society,” said the SSP . He added that Jasvir would promise them a hefty salary on arrival in Argentina. The police, till now, have recovered 25 passports, six cheque books, seven ATM cards, two mobile phones, PAN cards, voter and Aadhar cards and a car. Investigations continued on page 2 Amritsar, May 19 The court of the Additional Sessions Judge has dismissed the anticipatory bail application of Nitin Chopra, coloniser and owner of RB Estate on Loharaka road in a case of fraud and criminal conspiracy registered with the Cantonment police on May 6. The case was registered following a probe conducted by an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) rank official and after taking legal opinion of the district attorney. Besides Nitin Chopra, the police have booked his brother Minku Chopra, both residents of RB Estate. Both were on the run since the registration of an FIR, said police authorities. Vishal Gupta, a resident of Pathankot, had procured three plots in the name of his family members in 2014. He had lodged a complaint with the police alleging that the accused had sold a chunk of government road behind their plots by showing it as their own property, thereby cheating them of huge amounts. Advocate Ravi Mahajan who appeared on behalf of the complainant alleged that the court had rejected the anticipatory bail of Nitin Chopra. The police registered a case under Section 420 and 120-B of IPC against them while a complaint was lodged with the police in January this year. Auto drivers show interest in switching Quick lifting of wheat, prompt from diesel to electric version at fair payment, assures Kataruchak RAHI SCHEME Amritsar, May 19 An e-Auto Mela was organised under RAHI (Rejuvenation of Auto-Rickshaws in Amritsar through Holistic Intervention) scheme at Guru Nanak Bhawan City Centre in Amritsar in which hundreds of auto drivers participated and showed interest in shifting from diesel auto-rickshaws to eautos. Various e-auto manufacturing companies set up stalls and shared information about their products with the drivers. The Smart City authorities claimed that a large number of diesel auto drivers registered for e-autos during the fair. Some eauto booking was also done by the drivers after paying cash on the spot. The e-autos would be provided companies soon after completing the formalities. The chief guest at the Auto Fair, Joint Commissioner Hardeep Singh today congratulated the diesel auto drivers who Municipal Corporation Joint Commissioner Hardeep Singh (2nd from left) hands over the keys of an e-auto to one of the drivers at a fair organised in Amritsar on Friday. TRIBUNE PHOTO reached the fair for e-auto registration. He handed over the keys to the auto drivers whose formalities had been completed. Joint Commissioner Hardeep Singh said the purpose was to educate and encourage diesel auto drivers about the eautos. With the new policies of the government, diesel vehicles would be banned to make checking unbilled units. However, it did not happen, which caused huge financial losses to the department,” said the official. The official said a comprehensive report was being prepared, which would be forwarded to higher authorities for further necessary action. Acting on a tip-off, sleuths of the enforcement wing landed at the godowns on Wednesday. They recovered over 1,000 kg of aluminum power cables of different sizes, electric conductors of different sizes weighing around 400 kg, new cable wires of different sizes and LTCT power meters from the spot. The cost of the entire material was around Rs 6-7 lakh. As per the norms, Powercom employees have to inform senior officials in case he hires a private space for storage of wires and equipment. However, the accused JE had not informed the department about the stores. The material was found from the basement and a room located near the langar hall of the shrine. the environment pollutionfree. “The government is concerned about the employment of diesel auto drivers, so we want to bring them into the mainstream of transport and encourage them to switch to eautos in a time-bound manner. Because of this, e-auto melas and e-auto rallies are being organised,” he said. MC officials claimed that eautos cost less and help earn more. Apart from this, e-autos are economical and have a longer battery life. The rider enjoys a clean pollution-free and noiseless journey. The most important thing is that the e-autos are registered with the government and have a registration number plate. — TNS c m y b Amritsar, May 19 Punjab Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Lal Chand Kataruchak today visited the Jandiala grain market to inspect the arrangements for lifting of wheat grain. He instructed the officials of the procurement agencies to complete the lifting process within the next few days. It was for the first time in the history of Punjab that payment for the purchase of wheat had been made within four to six hours, he said. Kataruchak said Punjab has contributed the most to the Central grain pool. He said due to unseasonal rain, problems in lifting had arisen at some places in the region which had been addressed immediately. The minister said that under the guidelines of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, full payment for wheat has been made to the farmers. He said although the Central government had imposed a value-cut on the purchase of wheat, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had Cabinet Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak (3rd from right) and Power Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO (centre) visit the grain market at Jandiala Guru near Amritsar on Friday. TRIBUNE PHOTO compensated for it on behalf of the state government. Kataruchak gave strict instructions to the officials concerned regarding the lifting in Mehta Dana Mandi and said that the process should be completed within five days. Expressing satisfaction over the procurement arrangements in Jandiala, he said the season was good for farmers and also all the sections involved in the procurement process, including labourers and transporters. Power Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO said when it came to his notice that there was some problem in lifting at Jandiala Dana Mandi, he brought it to the attention of Kataruchak who immediately addressed it. He said they would file a complaint with the police requesting the addition of a section for forgery as a government road had been sold to the victims by showing it to as their property. He said they would also request the police to nominate their accomplices also who connived with them while selling the plots in RB Estate to Vishal Gupta. Mahajan said that the sleuths of Income Tax Department had raided the colonisers in 2018 and allegedly recovered unaccounted money from them. The IT Department had conducted raids at 30 odd premises of four business groups in Amritsar at that time. — TNS Set up Panthic channel, SAD(A) urges SGPC Amritsar, May 19 Members of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) today submitted a memorandum to the SGPC advocating that proceedings be started to set up an unbiased Panthic channel to telecast daily Gurbani from the Golden Temple. In a communiqué addressed to SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami, SAD (A) president Simranjit Singh Mann reminded the former that the pact with a particular channel for the exclusive rights of telecast of Gurbani was going to terminate in May and that it was the right time to replace it with a suitable channel. The existing private channel is said to be owned by an influential political family. Earlier in 2022, following a controversy , SGPC members Kiranjot Kaur and Balwinder Bains had urged the Akal Takht officiating Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh to order snapping of ties with the channel. — TNS