30082023-ATR-01.qxd 30-08-2023 00:44 Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 35°C | MIN 24°C YESTERDAY MAX 33°C | MIN 23°C 5K MOSQUITO REPELLENTS GIVEN UNDER PROJECT ACTRESS MALAIKA ARORA SHINES IN ETHNIC LOOK PANKAJ TRIPATHI ON ONE YEAR OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE The Phulkari-Women of Amritsar donated 5,000 tubes of mosquito repellents to the DC. P2 Malaika Arora shared a string of pictures from Onam celebrations with her family members. P3 Pankaj has opened up about his favourite thing about playing Madhav Mishra in Criminal Justice. P0 » » » SUNSET WEDNESDAY 6.57 PM SUNRISE THURSDAY 6.04 AM WEDNESDAY | 30 AUGUST 2023 | AMRITSAR Body found in Golden Temple sarovar Staff shortage affecting work at RTA office; local residents suffer MC removes encroachments in city areas Tribune News Service Neeraj Bagga Amritsar, August 29 In a joint operation, the municipal corporation along with traffic police removed illegal encroachments from different areas of the city and confiscated goods displayed on footpaths here on Tuesday. Estate Officer Sushant Bhatia said a team of the MC led by Inspector Rajkumar of the Estate Wing and a team of traffic police officials led by ADCP (Traffic) Amandeep Kaur inspected sidewalks, footpaths at Liberty Market, railway station link road, Rialto Chowk, Majitha Road and SSSS Chowk. Action was taken against illegal encroachers. Along with this, another team of the department visited the Town Hall, Shani Mandir and removed the illegal encroachments. A team under the supervision of Estate Officer Sushant Bhatia took action against the shopkeepers who had occupied footpaths in areas of Putlighar Kabir Park, U-T Market, Chheharta Chowk, Khandwala were warned. MC Commissioner Rahul appealed to the residents of the city to keep their goods within the limits of their shops and if any person was found displaying goods on footpaths, then goods would be seized under the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976. Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 29 The police have recovered the body of an unknown devotee who was drowned in the holy sarovar of the Golden Temple. The man appeared to be in his 30s, of medium height with dark complexion and small beard. He wore a black T-shirt and beige coloured pants. According to the in-charge of Galliara chowk police post, the body has been kept for the next 72 hours in the Civil Hospital mortuary for identification. Edu Dept Class IV staff go on indefinite strike Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, August 29 On the call given by the Darja Char Karamchari Association (Education Department), Punjab, Class IV employees of the department went on an indefinite strike here on Monday. Today was the second day of their strike. Gurmeet Singh Sandhu, district president of the continued on page 2 Amritsar, August 29 People queuing up at the solitary window of the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) at its Gawal Mandi office to avail several unavoidable services have been complaining of long delays. Severe staff crunch is said to be the primary reason behind the prolonged delay in discharging of public duties like making and renewal of driving licences (DLs), transfer and registration of vehicles, issuing of duplicate registration certificates (RCs), their surrender, correction in documents, release of permits of heavy vehicles, permit renewal, old series, section officer accounts, help desk, motor transport passes, enforcement role by checking of vehicles on roads and other works. Besides, the local RTA office has its jurisdiction across Amritsar and Tarn Taran. For all this work, the local RTA has got just eight officials against a sanctioned strength of 24. Santokh Singh, an applicant standing in a queue at the local RTA office, complained of arduous delay in getting the desired service. He said he had come yesterday too. “But he had to return empty-handed due to the clo- Nagar panchayats asked to update list of voters by Sept 15 CIVIC BODY POLLS Amritsar, August 29 Nearly a month after elections to 39 municipal councils and nagar panchayats across the state to be held in the first fortnight of November was notified, the District Electoral Officer today asked all nagar panchayats to update the preliminary list of voters by Sep r 15. The State Election Commission said in Amritsar district, elections will held for Raja Sansi Nagar Panchayat, Baba Bakala Nagar Panchayat besides by-election for Ward No. 4 of Majitha Nagar Council and ward number 13 of Rayya Nagar Panchayat. The election staff has been directed to correct and update the list of voters. Inclusion of voters’’ name No burning of crop residue, officials told Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 29 A meeting of agriculture and allied departments was held at Tarn Taran to prevent the burning of crop residue in agricultural fields during the upcoming paddy harvesting season. Speaking on the occasion, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Amaninder Kaur asked the officials to ensure that no burning of crop residue takes place. The meeting was also attended by SDM, Khadoor Sahib, Deepak Bhatia, District Revenue Officer Gurmeet Singh, Civil Surgeon Dr Gurpreet Singh, Chief Agriculture Officer continued on page 2 in the electoral roll can be done by September 22 and the last date for receiving objections for inclusion of any name and disposal of claims is October 6. The final publication of voters’ lists will be on October 16. DC Amit Talwar said the State Election Commission appointed SDM Lopoke for Raja Sansi Nagar Panchayat, SDM Baba Bakala for Baba Bakala Nagar Panchayat and Rayya besides SDM Majitha for Majitha Nagar Council. The publication of preliminary voters’ lists will be done by the Electoral Registration Officers. Residents have been asked to file their claims and objections regarding the voters’lists with the offices of their respective Electoral Registration Officers or Executive Officers. — OC A rush of candidates at the RTA office Amritsar. TRIBUNE PHOTO sure of only window.” He wondered why there was no provision for separate queues for the aged, physically challenged and women. Another applicant Harjit Sigh said people kept sweating in the hot and humid environment outside waiting for their turn. Despite a heavy rush of people, the authorities were not keen to provide immediate service. This belied the tall claims of the Bhagwant Mann government to provide service to people at their doorsteps. Here, they kept standing at the doorsteps of the government awaiting their turn, Harjit Singh said. With the police intensifying issuing of challans to vehicles, especially those without High Security Registration Plates (HSRP) after the conclusion of its deadline on June 31, the rush of people paying for challans at the RTO office had also increased, adding to the burden of the RTA. Arashdeep Singh Lobana, Secretary, RTA, said his office had only eight officials against a sanctioned strength of 24. Of them, five were clerks. Two of them daily go to attend hearings in the court and one of them was attached with the Motor Vehicle Inspector. In the given scenario, he can operate only one window where a clerk and a data entry operator have been deputed to swiftly carry out the public work, he said. Police recovered pistol, cartridge heroin from him Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 29 A team of the Special Task Force (STF) from Jalandhar arrested a drug smuggler after a brief encounter with him in Rayya area here on Monday night. The accused has been identified as Partap Singh of Dunyal village in Rayya area. In an exchange of fire, the drug smuggler got injured and was admitted to Guru Nanak Dev hospital. The police recovered a pistol, six cartridges and 350-gm heroin from his possession. On a secret tip-off, a STF team raided drug trafficker Partap Singh at Dunyal village near Rayya. The police arranged for a buyer of the drug, who made a call to Partap Singh and demanded heroin. Partap Singh fixed time and the spot for the delivery of the contraband. When Partap reached to give drugs, the STF cops surrounded him and asked to surrender. The accused reportedly fired a gunshot at STF team members with his pistol. In exchange of fire, the accused received a bullet on The STF team nabs a drug smuggler after a brief encounter with him in Rayya. The accused got injured and was admitted to Guru Nanak Dev hospital in Amritsar on Tuesday. TRIBUNE PHOTO the leg and fell down. The cops nabbed him and recovered a pistol, six cartridges and 350 gm of heroin. A team of officials of the Baba Bakala police station also reached the spot and admitted the accused to Government Hospital at Baba Bakala. The doctors further referred him to Guru Nanak Dev hospital. The accused confessed that he was involved in the drug trade for the last few months and had only four customers. The accused used to get drugs from Amritsar. He used to connect with drug dealers on WhatsApp and collect the drug from the given location from some courier. The accused claimed that the recovered .32 bore pistol was a licensed weapon, which was issued to his maternal grandfather. Even after the death of his grandfather, the accused did not surrender the pistol and licence to the government and used it illegally. Partap Singh claimed that he had some rivalry in the village so he kept a pistol with him. The STF has registered a case at the STF police station and initiated investigation to trace his linkages. Police officials are hopeful that they will get more links from the accused who sell the drug in the area. Austerity or profligacy? Residents not sure 15 school teachers about govt’s second cut in discretionary grant among 20 probables for state award Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 29 The state government’s decision to curtail the discretionary annual grants of all ministers from Rs 1.5 crore to Rs one crore was not welcomed by people who demand transparency in its distribution. Deepak Khanna, a textile manufacturer, said the move was not in good taste as the grant was easily available for crucial works in a constituency. Otherwise, the path to get the aid for a work is tedious and has the potential to be caught in red-tape. Instead of curtailing the MLA’s grants, the government should have made it more transparent by proposing that each MLA must upload the names of the projects with details for which the aid was spent on their social media accounts. Deepak Khanna Anil Kumar Similarly, the elected leaders running the government could also display the details on boards installed in their constituencies. Bringing the spending out of the discretionary grants in public domain would have heralded more transparency, he felt. Moreover, Khanna feels that the inflation made the cost on civil and other repair works in a constituency so high that these required huge funding. Another city resident Anil Kumar said it was the second financial cut on discretionary grant for the CM and his ministers. It showed the precarious financial health of the state government. Though it has been described as an austerity measure, it is the end result of freebies offered to people, expenditure incurred on advertisements and political Non-lifting of garbage irks residents Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 29 Residents and social activists have been complaining about the non-lifting of garbage from various localities as a number of garbage collecting vehicles are out of operation. Collection of garbage has been disrupted in Amritsar Central assembly constituency for the last several days. Large heaps of garbage can be seen in the corners. Residents of various localities in the Amritsar Central constituency claimed that garbage collection vehicles come occasionally. Sometimes, they leave without picking up the garbage. “I have complained to the supervisor and sanitary inspector several times about Drug peddler nabbed after brief encounter A bin overflows with garbage in Amritsar. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR the irregular lifting of garbage but to no avail. The garbage collection vehicle has not been coming for many days and heaps of garbage are piling up inside houses. There is a fear of outbreak of disease due to garbage on the roads. The inner city areas have always been a victim of neglect by the MC,” said Raman Kumar from Arya School Street. The residents of several localities in the Amritsar West constituency are also protesting against the MC due to non-lifting of garbage, choked sewer lines and contaminated water supply. “The number of patients suffering from dengue and chikungunya is increasing rapidly in the city. Due to lack of sanitation, the diseases are spreading. Despite complaints, the administration is not paying attention to it. The MC only takes care of posh areas in the city,” said Judgepreet Singh, a resident. Meanwhile, MLA West Jasbir Singh Sandhu held a meeting with the MC staff and assured of redressing the grievances. c m y b tourism indulged in by the state government. The discretionary grant cut to ministries will percolate down to the MLA’s funds and will impact the development of constituencies represented by them. On ground zero, the basic facilities like laying of sewerage, potable water and sanitation promised by the elected representatives will suffer. Before the formation of the AAP government in the state, the ministers used to get Rs 5 crore per annum. The state cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had given approval to the policy of disbursement of discretionary grants of his cabinet colleagues in January, as per which they (ministers) would get Rs 1.50 crore. Now, it is the second cut in the discretionary grant. Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 29 Out of 20 teachers who have been picked by the district selection committee and are probables for the state award 2023 from the district, 15 are serving in government schools in the rural belt. For the first time, three teachers among these probables belong to other cadres. There are three ETT teachers in the list and one computer faculty as well. The state selection committee had taken a presentation via online mode of these teachers to finalise the awardees. Among the 16, four teachers including Amritbir Singh (GHS, Dyal Bharang), Amarjit Kaur (GHS Lachmansar), Amanpal Singh (GSSS Athw- al) and Anuradha (GSSS, KBDS Girls) have been nominated in the Young Teacher Award 2023 category. Apart from this, administrative awards are also given to teachers. The other teachers nominated are serving in Chabba, Gaggarbana, Mehta Nangal, Tapiala, Gumtala, Padaa, Ibnan Kalan and other rural areas. District Education Officer (DEO) Sushil Kumar Tuli said the progress in government schools, especially in the rural belt, has been commendable over the past few years. He credited the improvement in educational standards to the changed approach by teachers, especially the setting up of science clubs, AI clubs, English clubs and smart classes in core subjects. Few commuters care to follow safety rules at manned level crossings Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 29 The purpose of the manned railway crossings is to ensure the safety of people during the time of passing of a passenger or a goods train. The gates at these crossings are closed to ensure their safety, but there a section of commuters who can be seen pushing their two wheelers and even rickshaws from under the closed bars at most of the railway crossings. The illegal crossing of some commuters under the closed gates is against the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act as well as the Railway Act. Illegal cross- Commuters risk their lives by crossing the railway crossings from under the closed iron bars in Amritsar on Tuesday. VISHAL KUMAR ings at manned railway crossings are rampant due to shortage of staff to penalise the law breakers. Despite occurrence of several fatal accidents at the railway crossings in the past, many local residents seem to have learnt no lesson as they risk their lives daily to save a few minutes. The city has a number of railway crossings, where a huge rush of people can be seen every time a crossing is closed to give passage to a train. The railway crossings at Ram Bagh and Bhaiyan Da Shivala are especially vulnerable as these are on the main rail route from Amritsar to Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Delhi and several other destinations in the country. “People have no patience and are not ready to wait even for a few minutes. Twowheeler drivers try to push continued on page 2