21092023-LT-01.qxd 21-09-2023 01:04 Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune ERRATIC WATER SUPPLY IRKS RESIDENTS IN WARD 43 HINA KHAN ON HER DEBUT SINGLE BARSAAT AA GAYI RAPPER SHUBH’S STILL ROLLIN INDIA TOUR CANCELLED The entangled web of cables is a key concern in Bhai Himmat Singh Nagar of Ward 43. P2 Hina Khan is set to make her singing debut with Barsaat Aa Gayi, and called it a “surreal” experience. P3 Ticket booking app took to Twitter to announce that the rapper’s Still Rollin India Tour has been cancelled.P4 » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 33°C | MIN 25°C YESTERDAY MAX 34°C | MIN 25°C SUNSET THURSDAY 6.25 PM SUNRISE FRIDAY 6:14 AM » THURSDAY | 21 SEPTEMBER 2023 | LUDHIANA Five juveniles booked on sodomy charge Ludhiana, September 20 The Jagraon city police today registered a case against five juveniles who had allegedly sodomised two minor boys and also recorded the act in their mobile phone. The complainant and the suspects are residents of Jagraon. The complainant, the father of one of the victims, told the police that his son (13) along with his two friends aged 14 and 15, had gone to repair a Activa scooter on September 19 evening. Later at night, when his son returned home, he said he and one of his friends were sodomised by their acquaintances near the Kothe Khanjura road. The suspects had forcibly took the victims along to commit the crime. “My son revealed that the suspects had tied their friend and sodomised two of us. They also made a video with their mobile phone and threatened us that if we told the police about the crime they would viral the video on social media,” he said. Yesterday night kin of the victims had also blocked the Raikot-Jalandhar road against the police as a case was not being registered in the matter. SHO, Jagraon city, Inspector Daljit Singh, said on the request of the family, medical of the third victim was also being done to inquire if he was sodomised or not and further action would be taken as per the medical report. — TNS MC acts against 6 illegal shops Ludhiana, September 20 Cracking the whip on violators involved in illegal construction, the Municipal Corporation (MC) took action against six shops being constructed illegally in the Haibowal area today. The shops were being constructed in violation of the building bylaws. The civic body had received a complaint against the illicit activity and a warning had also been issued to the owner concerned. — TNS City, Delhi cops crackrobbery Bus services hit, passengers suffer as staff observe strike at ex-min’s house; 3 nabbed After meeting minister, contractual employees resume services Gold ornaments worth ~1 cr, ~2.76L cash, pearls recovered Tribune News Service Ludhiana, September 20 The Ludhiana police in a joint operation with the Delhi Police cracked a major robbery occurred at the house of former SAD minister Jagdish Singh Garcha (88). The police arrested three persons, including the key suspect, a Nepalese servant. The suspects have been identified as Karan Bahadur (20), Sarjan Shahi (21) and Kishan Bahadur (31), all natives of Nepal. One of their accomplices, David, also from Nepal, is at large. The police recovered gold ornaments worth Rs 1 crore, Rs 2.76 lakh in cash, five branded watches, coins of various countries, pearls and a silver glass. Commissioner of Police (CP) Mandeep Singh Sidhu, JCP Jaskiranjit Singh Teja and ADCP Suhail Qasim Mir addressed a press conference in this regard. Notably on September 18, a male domestic help, Karan Bahadur, allegedly drugged Garcha (88), his wife, sister and another maid at Maharaja Ranjit Singh Nagar, CP Mandeep Sidhu shows the photographs of the suspects in Ludhiana on Wednesday. ASHWANI DHIMAN Pakhowal Road, and fled with the valuables. Sidhu revealed that considering the gravity of the case, a special SIT was formed to crack the case in the minimum possible time. After collecting vital clues about the suspects, a team was also sent to Delhi to raid the whereabouts of the suspects. “After zeroing in on hideouts of the suspects, the Ludhiana police along with the Delhi Police apprehended the three accused and recovered the looted cash and valauables. Now after obtaining transit remand of the suspects, they are being brought to Ludhiana for further questioning,” he said. The CP asserted that if the suspects were not nabbed now, they would have surely entered Nepal as they had already made a foolproof plan to cross the border in a day or two. Meanwhile, Garcha’s son Harjinder Singh Garcha thanked the top cop for the quick arrest along with the entire recovery of the looted cash and valuables. He accepted the fault of his family of not ensuring police verification of the servant, which was mandatory as per law. Had family ensured police verification, servant would have been exposed: CP CP Sidhu claimed that had the family applied for police verification of the servant, his criminal background might had been exposed earlier as a theft case was already registered against him this year by the Mandi Gobindgarh police. “It was a blind case, we did not had any ID proof, photographoranyofhislinks,the police collected intelligence inputs and cracked the case. All credit goes to my team,” he said. Tribune News Service Ludhiana, September 20 The government bus services were severely impacted when contractual employees affiliated with the Punjab Roadways, PUNBUS, and PRTC Contract Workers Union Punjab initiated a strike on Wednesday. Consequently, a significant number of passengers encountered difficulties and many were compelled to opt for private buses. However, the union later postponed the strike in the afternoon. Numerous passengers remained unaware of the strike till they arrived at the Amar Shaheed Sukhdev Interstate Bus Terminal in the city. Meanwhile, some were seen waiting at the bus stand, hoping for the resumption of the bus services. A passenger said she and her daughter had intended to travel to Sangrur via a government bus in the morning but they subsequently came to know about the strike by contractual employees. She said: “Government buses offer free fares for women but now we have to pay for travelling in a private bus. In the end, such Contractual bus employees protest outside a bus depot in Ludhiana on Wednesday. PHOTO: ASHWANI DHIMAN strikes only inconvenience the common man.” According to reports, over 100 buses from the Ludhiana depot remained off roads during the strike. Contractual employees also staged a protest outside a local depot, demanding salary increase, reinstatement of expelled employees and job regularisation for contractual employees. Shamsher Singh from the union said they had initiated the strike as their demands had not been met. However, after a meeting with Transport Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar on Wednesday, the union decided to postpone the strike. ASI arrested for Police seized over ~12 cr from miscreants in recent past With seizure of ~43 lakh more in dacoity incident, total recovery reach ~3.94 crore in case taking ~5K bribe RECENT MAJOR RECOVERIES Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, September 20 The Vigilance Bureau (VB), Ludhiana, on Wednesday arrested an ASI, Daljit Singh, posted at the police station, Dehlon, in the district for accepting a bribe of Rs 5,000. A spokesperson for the VB said the ASI had been arrested on the complaint of Chandanpreet Singh of Doraha, Ludhiana district, who had lodged a complaint on the CM’s anti- corruption action line in this regard. He said the complainant had alleged in his complaint that the police official had already taken Rs 5,000 for joining investigation as per the interim order of high court in a police case, registered at the Dehlon police station. The complainant said the ASI had demanded a bribe of Rs 25,000 on behalf of the SHO, Dehlon, by threatening him that in case the amount was not paid, his bail would be cancelled. He recorded the conversation with the ASI regarding the payment of the bribe money, which was submitted to the VB. A case had been registered. — TNS Ludhiana, September 20 Setting a record of sorts, the Ludhiana Commissionerate have solved all major robberies and dacoities that occurred in the recent past in the city and recovered over Rs 12 crore hard-earned money of residents from criminals. Interestingly, in some of the cases, the victims had mentioned lesser amount but the police recovered multiple times that amount from the robbers. In today’s development, with the recovery of Rs 43 lakh more from the four ■ September: ~3.94 crore from dacoits who looted the same from the house of a doctor couple. ■ September: ~17.35L in cash from cyber crooks, including the HDFC Bank relationship manager who stole money from the NRI’s account. ■ August: ~15.21L stolen from SUV was recovered from two Delhi men ■ June: ~7.14 cr recovered in CMS cash management firm robbery case. ■ Jan: ~46.5L from ‘Thak Thak’ gang that stole it from a car at Samrala Chowk nabbed suspects in a major dacoity incident that occurred at the house of a city-based renowned doctor couple, Waheguru Pal Sidhu and his wife Harkamal Bagga, a few days ago, the total cash recovery in the case has reached Rs 3.94 crore. The police on Tues- day apprehended four robbers identified as Gurwinder Singh, alias Sonu (39), of Thareeke village, here, Pawneet Singh, alias Shalu (42), of Dugri here, Jagpreet Singh (22) of Tarn Taran and Sahildeep (21) of Tarn Taran. The police had also recovered Rs 3.51 crore, 271 gm of gold ornaments, 88 gm of silver ornaments from the suspects. Commissioner of Police Mandeep Singh Sidhu while talking to The Tribune here today said multi-crore cash recovery in the recent past became possible with the hard work and professional approach of his team towards every case. “With the effort and dedication of my team, the Ludhiana Commissionerate have solved all major robberies and dacoities with the recovery of several crores of ruppees. The team’s effort had also been yielding fruits as cash 43% land still wanted, Ldh-Ropar expressway construction 12% complete Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Ludhiana, September 20 Even as almost 43 per cent land is still wanted, the work to construct the upcoming Ludhiana-Ropar expressway has achieved 12 per cent completion, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has confirmed. While the construction of the 37.7-km stretch under Package-1 of the 116-kmlong greenfield project, including a 19.5-km spur from Pipalmajra to Kharar with Ludhiana bypass, being built at the cost of Rs 2,857.14 crore has been underway within the limits of Ludhiana district, the physical possession of land for the remaining 8-km stretch is still awaited, officials have said. Of the total 116-km project, the land rates to acquire 50-km stretch have been put under arbitration to review and revise the acquisition award. The development assumes significance as the stiff resistance by farmers to part away with their land coming under the entire Ludhiana-Ropar expressway was delaying the “During the meeting between the union delegation and the panel, which included the minister and officials from the Transport Department, discussions were held to address some of our demands. The authorities ordered implementation of the accepted demands that include a 5 per cent wage increase and the reinstatement of blacklisted employees. Furthermore, orders were issued to stop unauthorised bus operations and to improve the department’s profitability,” said union members. continued on page 2 Land rates to acquire 50-km of total 116-km project go under arbitration PROJECT REPORT 116 km ~2,857.14 cr Length Cost 4-6 60-meter Lanes ROW Status: Work started, land awaited Deadline: March 2024 Owner: NHAI Project Model: HAM Work in progress to construct the Ludhiana-Ropar expressway in Ludhiana on Wednesday. ASHWANI DHIMAN acquisition proceedings for the major infrastructure development project. Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora, who reviewed the progress of the project here recently, told The Tribune on Wednesday that the work on Package 1 of the four to sixlane the National Highway205K from junction with the NE-5 village near to Manewal in Ludhiana to junction with NH-205 near Bheora village in Ropar, including spur to Kharar with the Ludhiana bypass, had been expedited after sufficient land was made available for the project. “As of date, the project has achieved 12 per cent physical and financial progress,” he said. He said possession of 29.7- km of the total 37.7-km land required for the Package-1 had been taken while the process to complete acquisition proceedings for the remaining 8-km stretch under Package-1 was still on. “Of the total 116-km expressway, the construction work is in progress over a 66km stretch while the physical possession of the land to c m y b Route: To start from DelhiAmritsar-Katra expressway (NE-5) near Manewal village in Ludhiana and terminate on NH-205 at Ropar near Bheora village. Besides, a spur from Pipalmajra to Kharar will connect Ludhiana bypass build the remaining 50-km stretch is still pending,” Arora was told. The NHAI project director said the rates fixed for the land acquisition were being reviewed by the Arbitrator, who is the Divisional Commissioner. “After the review, the case will be put up before the NHAI Chairman, who will take a final call on the matter,” he revealed. With Rs 951 crore civil cost and Rs 410 crore land acquisition cost, the total capital cost for Package-1, for which the work was awarded in September, 2021, was Rs 1,368.91 crore for which 260 hectares of land was required. Of the total Rs 294.12 crore awarded for the land acquisition so far, Rs 203.47 crore had been deposited and Rs 97.55 crore, which accounts for 33.17 per cent of the total award money, had been disbursed to the landowners. The Package-2, comprising 47.24-km stretch, involved a civil cost of Rs 1,035 crore and land acquisition amount of Rs 461.71 crore, taking the total capital cost to Rs 1,488.23 crore. However, the possession of land had been delayed under this package as well, for which the work had been awarded in December 2021. For the total 337.27 hectares of land under acquisition for Package 2, a sum of Rs 352.73 crore had been awarded, of which Rs 150 crore had already been deposited and Rs 86.24 crore had been disbursed to the farmers, which accounts for 24.45 per cent of the total award money. The NHAI had approved 46 access-controlled highway with a route alignment connecting Manewal village in Ludhiana on the upcoming Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway with Bheora village near Ropar for the construction of the greenfield expressway, which includes a 19.5-km spur from Pipalmajra to Kharar with Ludhiana bypass, and was being developed under the Bharatmala Pariyojana Phase 1. The expressway was being built in three parts under the hybrid annuity model (HAM) mode, and will connect Ludhiana, Ropar and Mohali districts. Under the HAM mode, 40 per cent of the project cost was provided by the government as construction support during the construction period and the balance was paid as annuity payments over the operations period along with interest thereon to the concessionaire. While three railway overbridges to be built under the continued on page 2 rewards, DGP Commendation Discs and appreciation certificates were showered by the DGP Punjab,” he said. , “In the latest dacoity case, the doctor couple had stated that only Rs 25 lakh was looted but our team recovered Rs 3.94 crore from the robbers. The couple might have misquoted the amount due to some reason but the police have done their duty by ensuring the recovery of every penny,” Sidhu said. The recovery of Rs 7.14 crore in the CMS loot case was one of the highest recovery by the Ludhiana police, he claimed. City-based trader dies by suicide Tribune News Service Ludhiana, September 20 A trader died by suicide at his house near the Neem Wala chowk on Wednesday. Family members alleged that the deceased was being harassed by a financier. Victim’s kin allege harassment by financier The victim has been identified as Gaurav Bajaj. His body was found hanging in the bathroom. The family members of the victim rushed him to a hospital but doctors declared him brought dead. After getting information, officials from Division Number 3 police station reached the spot. Mickey, brother of the deceased, said Gaurav had some monetary dispute with a city based financier due to which he was being harassed by him. The former took the extreme step due to the same.