21052023-ATR-01.qxd 5/21/2023 12:12 AM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR IN A FIRST, TRAFFIC POLICE TO GET OWN STATION SOON ACTOR BEN KINGSLEY JOINS CAST OF THE KILLER'S GAME ON WORLD TEA DAY, CELEBS SAID HOW A CUPPA PEPS THEM UP The city police are setting up a dedicated traffic police lines near the old Civil Surgeon’s office. P2 The character to be played by actor Kingsley in The Killer’s Game has been kept under wraps. P3 Tea is more of a social drink than a necessity per se. I like to have a cup of tea with my mother-in-law. P4 » » » MAX 43°C | MIN 24°C YESTERDAY MAX 42°C | MIN 23°C SUNSET SUNDAY 7.23 PM SUNRISE MONDAY 5:30 AM SUNDAY | 21 MAY 2023 | AMRITSAR INBRIEF DRIVER BOOKED FOR MURDER BID Amritsar: The Cantonment police have booked Gurdeep Singh of Jandiala Guru on charges of attempt to murder and assault on a traffic cop while discharging his duty near the Gumtala bypass chowk. Ajay Kumar, a Punjab Home Guard jawan, who was deputed at the Gumtala bypass chowk, said he had signalled a car (PB01-B3472) to stop at the naka, but the occupant hit him with the car and tried to flee the spot. He said while escaping, the car occupant collided with another car near the chowk. The Home Guard jawan suffered injuries in the incident. The police have registered a case under Sections 307, 323, 353 and 186 of the IPC against Gurdeep Singh and efforts were on to nab him. TNS TWO CELLPHONE SNATCHERS HELD Amritsar: The Division B police have arrested two snatchers, identified as Harwinder Singh of Heir Colony and Harsh Kumar of Gali Ram Bagh. They had snatched a phone from a migrant, identified as Mohammad Samsad of Bihar. Meanwhile, two unidentified bike-borne persons snatched a cell phone from a local resident, identified as Dr Ravinder Singh, from Maqboolpura area. A case has been registered. TNS Fire breaks out at Aanam Cinema; no casualty reported Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 20 A major fire broke out at Aanam cinema on the Tylor road here this evening. As the cinema hall has been closed down over the past few years, no loss of human life was reported. According to information, the work of restoration was going on inside the cinema. Workers were removing wooden seats and other infrastructure from the cinema hall. They were using electric cutters and welding machine inside the main hall and sparks from the welding or electric machine may have led to the fire inside the hall. A huge quantity of wooden furniture and foam seats were kept inside the hall. An eyewitness claimed that once the foam seats caught fire, it was tough for the workers to bring the form out of the hall. Two of the workers, who got stuck inside the hall, were timely rescued. The incident occurred around 6.45 pm. Other workers had left for home after work. Only two workers were inside the hall when the fire erupted. As the cinema is located near a densely populated locality, residents of a nearby colony Eyeing greener pastures, two youths land in Indonesian jail Families seek CM Mann and Central Govt’s intervention Tribune News Service Personnel of the Fire Brigade try to douse the flames engulfing Aanam Cinema in Amritsar on Saturday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR came to the rescue of the workers. They also called the Fire Brigade. Fire tenders from Sewa Society and the Municipal Corporation reached the spot soon after getting information. However, high flames engulfed the entire cinema hall. A huge quantity of junk and broken wooden seats and other materials were kept on the backyard of the cinema. Residents took the flammable materials away from the main hall. A petrol pump is also close to the cinema. The fire tenders first controlled the flames from the petrol pump side to prevent its spread. The backside residential locality was also at risk, but the fire tenders controlled the flames till 9 pm. Assistant Commissioner of Police (North) Varinder Singh Khosa said, “It was a major fire and we have informed the Deputy Commissioner of the fire incident. Fire-extinguishing equipment were being arranged from the airport authorities to douse the fire.” Amritsar, May 20 Looking for greener pastures, two youths of the border district have landed in jail in Indonesia. The incident came to light when the news of their arrest was circulated on social media. The family members of the victims were left devastated as they had mortgaged their properties to realise the dreams of their sons. Disturbed over the incident, they have now sought the intervention of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann and the Central Government for their safe return. Gurmail Singh (21), a resident of Gaggomahal village in Ajnala, and his cousin Ajaypal Singh (20) of Maude village in Attari subdivision started their journey for the US from the New Delhi airport on May 9. They would not have the slightest inkling that they would be duped by the travel agent, identified as Charanjit Singh Sodhi of Delhi. They reached Indonesia as ‘guided’ by Sodhi whose accomplices received the duo at an Indonesian airport from Commissioner reshuffles Police solve 45-yr-old’s property tax dept officials murder case; 2 nabbed Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 20 Municipal Corporation Commissioner Sandeep Rishi on Friday effected a major reshuffle in the property tax department due to the belowexpectation tax recovery here. Secretary Anil Arora has been appointed as the Nodal Officer for Central and East Zone of Property Tax Department and Secretary Daljit Singh as Nodal Officer for North, West and South Zone. Superintendent Davinder Singh Babbar will take care of the North, West and South Zones while Superintendent Harbans Lal will work in Central, East Zones. Inspector Satinder Singh has been deployed in North Zone, Inspector Shiv Prasad East Zone, Inspector Ravinder Pal in West Zone, Inspector Sita Ram in Central Zone and Inspector Rajeev Tandon in South Zone. A scrutiny cell has also been constituted by the Municipal Corporation Commissioner to deal with the scrutiny cases of the Property Tax Department. Secretary Vishal Wadhawan has been appointed in-charge of the scrutiny cell, Superintendent Jaswinder Singh as its superintendent, and Mandeep Chauhan appointed as surveyor. They will submit reports to Joint Commissioner (JC) Hardeep Singh after hearing the scrutiny cases. Meanwhile, Secretary Rajinder Sharma has been given the charge of e-governance of the MC. Superintendent Arun Kumar will also work for e-governance along with his current duties. Programmer Babita Khanna has been appointed as assistant in e-governance. In e-governance, the work of e-office, biometric attendance, e-challan, management system will be conducted. Superintendent Dharmendrajit Singh will remain the Estate Officer and has appointed Superintendent Varinder Kumar as his assistant who will supervise Tehbazaari and Street Vending Zone to remove illegal encroachments. Dharmendrajit has also been given the work of the birthdeath certification. SP (Investigation) Vishaljit Singh addresses mediapersons in Tarn Taran on Saturday. PHOTO: GURBAXPURI Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, May 20 The district police on Saturday claimed to have solved a murder case in which a 45year-old person, identified as Mehnga Singh, a resident of Takhtu Chack, was found dead under mysterious circumstances near Sarli Kalan village on the night of May 17. While addressing a press conference here on Saturday, SP (Investigation) MC seals under-construction hotel Amritsar, May 20 Continuing with its drive against illegal constructions, the Municipal Town Planning wing of the Amritsar Municipal Corporation sealed an under-construction hotel on the Verka-Majitha bypass and partially demolished two illegally constructed buildings in the Central Zone here on Saturday. On the directions of MC Commissioner Sandeep Rishi, officials and staff of the MTP wing took action against a major under-construction hotel on the Verka-Majitha bypass this morning. According to MC officials, the hotel owner did not approve the commercial building plan. After constructing a hotel in the residential area, the hotel owner started expanding the hotel premises by buying the adjoining land. Residents of the locality, where the hotel is being constructed, have complained to the MC Commissioner to take action against the illegal construction of a hotel in the residential area. On the complaint of the residents, Assistant Town Planner (ATP) Wazir Raj, Building Inspector Angad Singh and MTP wing staff under the supervision of MTP Vijay Kumar visited the area this morning and sealed the under-construction hotel. Earlier, the MC had demolished the shuttering of the An MC employee seals an under-construction hotel in Amritsar on Saturday. lanter being installed by the builder last month. The MTP department issued notices to this hotelier for constructing a hotel in a residential area and warned that major action would be taken in the coming days. Meanwhile two under-construction hotel buildings were partially demolished and another building in the Central Zone was sealed by the Municipal Town Planning (MTP) wing of the Municipal Corporation on Friday evening. The action was taken by Assistant Town Planner (ATP) Arun Khanna under the supervision of MTP Vijay Kumar. The team demolished the building of two illegal under-construction hotels near Government School in Bakkarwala Bazar in Sheran Wala Gate area. The buildings on which action was taken earlier by the Central Zone team were also inspected in the area. — TNS c m y b Vishaljit Singh revealed that Baljit Singh and his son Sukhnandan Singh, alias Rajan, a resident of Sarli Kalan, had been arrested for the crime. Ranjit Kaur, wife of the victim, in her complaint lodged with the police stated that her husband had gone on his motorcycle on the night of May 17 to an undisclosed destination and later he was found murdered the same day near Sarli Kalan. continued on page 2 10-yr-old girl raped in Tarn Taran village Tarn Taran, May 20 The Bhikhiwind police on Friday arrested a resident of Sursing village on the charge of raping a 10-year-old girl of a government elementary school. The accused has been identified as Gursharan Singh Gora. He lured the victim by giving toffees and money daily. Ten days ago he took the victim to an abandoned house where he committed the crime and after that he let the victim to go. After the incident the victim went into a depression and her mother asked the reason. continued on page 2 Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhailwal meets the parents of Gurmail Singh in Amritsar on Saturday. TRIBUNE PHOTO ‘TRYING TO CONTACT INDONESIAN EMBASSY’ Punjab NRI Affairs Minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal today visited the residence of Gurmail Singh and assured the family of all possible help. He said Principal Secretary J Murugan is trying to contact the Indonesia Embasssy for providing legal help to the victims. He said legal action would be taken against the travel agent who had duped the family and the victims. where they were taken into a room, said Gurmail’s father Sahib Singh. He said they came to know that they were tortured and forced to make calls to their family claiming they had reached safely and would start their onward journey for the US soon. Sahib Singh, who runs a flour mill in the village, said he had mortgaged his house and property for arranging money for sending his son abroad. He said he had never anticipated that his son would land in deep trouble. He said Sodhi demanded Rs 35 lakh for each child. He asked them to keep 5,000 US dollar with them during the journey. The amount was forcibly snatched by Sodhi’s accomplices in Indonesia who also thrashed them. The entire incident unfolded when they somehow managed to slip away from their clutches and reached Indonesia airport. They called their family and narrated the entire tale of woes. He said they got their return tickets arranged. But before taking the flight they were arrested by the Indonesia police. Simranjit Singh, a relative of the victim, said they had contacted the Indonesian Embassy through a lawyer and they came to know that the duo was still not implicated in the case. They urged the state government and the Centre for arranging safe return of their children, besides taking action against fake travel agent Charanjit Singh Sodhi. Sanjiv Kumar, DSP Ajnala, , said the police did not get any complaint from the family. He said appropriate action would be taken if they received any complaint in this regard. ECMO machine donated to SGRDI Amritsar, May 20 Rajya Sabha member Vikramjit Singh Sahney has donated a life-saving extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine costing Rs 1 crore to Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Medical Sciences and Research managed by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). On the occasion, Sahney thanked Harjinder Singh Dhami, president, SGPC, for accepting the donation and urged Akal Takht Jathedaar Giani Harpreet Singh to do ardas. The ECMO machine has been installed and is fully functional and a special ICU has been created in the hospital. Sahney said the latest technology ECMO machine would save lives of thousands of patients as it is more effective than a ventilator. — TNS