28092023-JTR-01.qxd 9/28/2023 12:14 AM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar tribune MP RINKU RAISES GST HIKE ON SPORTS GOODS WITH FM EMMY AWARDS NOMINATIONS FOR THREE INDIAN ACTORS ACTRESS HINA KHAN BACK IN KKK 13 AS A CHALLENGER MP Sushil Rinku on Wednesday raised the issue of GST hike with FM Nirmala Sitharaman. P2 Actors Shefali Shah, Vir Das and Jim Sarbh have bagged nominations at the International Emmy Awards. P3 Hina Khan, renowned for acing most of the stunts, will challenge contestants in Khatron Ke Khiladi 13. P4 » » FORECAST CLEAR SKY MAX 34°C | MIN 21°C YESTERDAY MAX 34°C | MIN 22°C SUNSET THURSDAY 6.12 PM SUNRISE FRIDAY 6:14 AM » THURSDAY | 28 SEPTEMBER 2023 | JALANDHAR INBRIEF 6 HELD, NARCOTICS, LIQUOR RECOVERED Hoshiarpur: The police have arrested six smugglers with narcotics and liquor. The Model Town police arrested Bhagat Nagar resident Lakhan Khosla and recovered 70 grams of intoxicating powder from him. In Mahilpur, the police stopped a car at a checkpost and arrested two smugglers with 100 grams of heroin. The police said during investigation the said car was found to be the stolen one. On the other hand, the Chabbewal police arrested two smugglers and recovered 260 grams of intoxicating powder from them. The accused have been identified as Vikramjeet, a resident of Handowal and Sahil Bains, a resident of Bathula. Separate cases under requisite sections of the NDPS Act have been registered against the accused. In another case, the Hariana police arrested a person and recovered 20 bottles of liquor from him. OC TWO ARRESTED FOR SMUGGLING LIQUOR Phagwara: The Bilga police have arrested a villager on the charge of smuggling liquor. Investigating officer Ashwani Kumar said 43 bottles of liquor were seized from the possession of the accused, identified as Harbhajan Singh, alias Neka, a resident of Mowai village. A case under Section 61, 1, 14 of the Punjab Excise Act has been registered against the accused. Meanwhile, the Shahkot police have arrested Paramjit Singh of Bau Pur village with 20 bottles of hooch, said IO Kashmir Singh. OC TWO NABBED FOR STEALING CABLES Phagwara: The city police have arrested two persons and recovered 50 kg of stolen cable wires from their possession. The arrested accused were identified as Kuldip Singh, a resident of Miherru village, and Gurpreet Singh of Mauli village, near Phagwara. PhagwaraDSP Jaspreet Singh said SDO telephones Jaswinder Pal lodged a complaint with the police that telephone cables were found stolen from various places and people were facing trouble due to non-connectivity of the telephones. The DSP said the police swung into action and successfully arrested the accused. A case under Section 379 and 411 of the IPC has been registered against the arrested accused. OC MAN BOOKED FOR RASH DRIVING Phagwara: The Nakodar sadar police have booked an unidentified tanker driver on charges of causing death by negligence, rash driving, and mischief. Sandeep Kumar of Aadramaan village factory, Kapurthala, complained to the police that an unidentified tanker driver crushed to death his friend Sekhar, a resident of Folarriwal village, near Kang Sahibu, village. Investigating officer Janak Raj said that a case under Sections 304-A, 279, 337, 338 and 427 of the IPC had been registered against the unidentified accused. OC DRAWING ATTENTION: An excavator extracts sand from the hills dug up by miners in the Beet area of Garhshankar; and a ravaged hill speaks volume about the illegal mining activites going on in the area without any check. PHOTOS BY WRITER Hills ‘vanish’ as illegal mining rampant in Beet area Several villages in Garhshankar face existential threat as authorities concerned fail to act against miners Sanjiv Bakshi Garhshankar, September 27 Shivalik Hills, as high as 200 feet, in the Beet area of Garhshankar subdivision are slowly vanishing. The scars inflicted by the mining mafia, which is carrying out its activities in the forests and mountains with impunity, are clearly visible in the subdivision. Stone crusher operators in villages of Kalewal-Beet, Khuralgarh Sahib and Garhiman- sowal, along with Mahindpur, Kheda Kalmot, Bhangla, Haripur, Plata and Splanwa of Rupnagar district, have ravaged the green cover due to illegal mining. The rampant illegal mining has reached to the extent that it is now threatening the very existence of the villages. Even as all this happens, the alarm bells are yet to ring for the Mining Department. As per the Mining and Geology Department, mining can PROTECTED AREA As per the Mining and Geology Department, mining can be done only up to three feet in the delisted area, but the land in Garhshankar subdivision comes under Section 4 and 5 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, and the Punjab Land Security Act, where no type of mining can be done. be done only up to three feet in the delisted area, but the land of Garhshankar sub-division comes under Section 4 and 5 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, ACTION AFTER DEMARCATION The jurisdiction of the said area (Garshankar and Rupnagar) is yet to be finalised. We will get the demarcation of the area done tomorrow, and once it’s done, action will be taken accordingly. — Pawan Kumar, SDO ❝ and the Punjab Land Security Act, where no type of mining can be done. Even then, how mining is going on here on the Garhshankar hills adjacent to 3 more held, family finally conducts Deepa’s last rites Aparna Banerji Tribune News Service Jalandhar, September 27 After the arrest of three more people in the Hardeep Singh Deepa murder case, the family of the 30-year-old man today finally cremated his body, eight days after his murder. The fresh arrests take the total number of arrests in the murder case to seven. Though a total of 10 accused have been named in the FIR, officials said they were on the lookout for the three still absconding. The family had earlier been adamant on not conducting Deepa’s last rites unless all the accused in the case were caught. However, owing to the continued arrests of the accused and the deteriorating condition of Hardeep’s body (kept in morgue), the 30year-old bodybuilder’s last rites were finally held at the Dhilwan cremation ground this afternoon. BODY’S CONDITION WAS DETERIORATING ❝Hardeep’s family to was still adamant not hold the last rites until all muderers were caught. However, when family members saw the body’s condition at the morgue, they changed their mind. Iqbal Singh, DEEPA’S COUSIN ❞ Deepa was murdered om September 19 after he was chased and brutally attacked by his village friend-turnedrival Harpreet Singh, alias Happy, and his accomplices. His body was dumped outside his parents’ house. While four people had already been arrested in the case, three more were nabbed in the past two days. Malkit Singh, alias Happy, and his wife Charanjit Kaur, alias Raj were arrested on September 25. Gursharan Singh, alias Sharan, were arrested on September 26. Kingpin Harpreet Singh, alias Happy, and his aides, Navjit Singh, Amruddin and Manav Mehta had already been arrested. Kulwinder Kaur (Harpreet’s mother), Rohit Kumar and Sukhwinder Singh remain at large. Speaking about the decision to conduct the last rites, Deepa’s cousin Iqbal Singh said, “Hardeep’s family was still adamant not to hold the last rites unless all muderers were caught. However, some family members, including me, visited his body at the morgue last night and it’s condition was bad. So it was unanimously decided to hold the cremation today.” Dhilwan police station SHO Balbir Singh was also present at the cremation. ❞ Roopnagar is beyond one’s comprehension. There is so much fear of the mining mafia among the people that no one is ready to come Khatkar Kalan, September 27 The stage is all set for the state level event to commemorate 116th birth anniversary of legendary freedom fighter Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh at Khatkar Kalan in which Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will pay homage to the martyr on Thursday. Giving final touch to the arrangements in Shaheed-eAzam Bhagat Singh Museum and Memorial, Deputy Commissioner Navjot Pal Singh Randhawa held a detailed meeting with the officers regarding the event in which CM Mann will preside as chief guest. Mann will pay tributes to Shaheed Bhagat Singh in the museum and later, will address a public gathering there. He said that the district 3-DAY INQUILAB FESTIVAL ALSO BEGINS TODAY Nawanshahr DC Navjot Pal Randhawa holds a review meeting on arrangements for the state-level event at Khatkar Kalan. TRIBUNE PHOTO administration had evolved a foolproof mechanism to ensure smooth flow of traffic besides making proper seating arrangements for the people. During the deliberations, Randhawa minutely reviewed the arrangements being made for the event. The DC also said the Punjab Government was organising a three-day Inquilab Festival which would also begin from Thursday at Khatkar Kalan. He said the festival would be a befitting tribute to the legendary martyr. He said that we were indebted to the sacrifice and martyrdom of the greatest icon of the country who laid down his life at the age of 23. Famous singer Jasbir Jassi will also perform at the function. c m y b Nimisha Mehta, a senior leader in Garshankar, questioned why the AAP government was silent on the complaints of illegal mining, which has reached a record level of 200 feet deep. Not only this, at some places entire hills have been erased by the mining mafia, she claimed. “Despite complaints by residents of Kalewal village, the Mining Department has not done anything. If officials fail to act, I will move court,” she said. Provide probe report to RTI applicant, CIC orders bank Aparna Banerji 14 arrested in crackdown on illegal gambling Jalandhar, September 27 In a major crackdown on illegal gambling, the CIA staff-2 of the city police conducted a raid and arrested 14 persons. The operation, conducted in the jurisdiction of Basti Bawa Khel police, aimed to quell unlawful gambling practices in the area. Acting on a tip-off, a police team raided a house owned by one Pritam at Pannu Vihar. It apprehended Gaurav, Mani Mahindru, Narendra Kumar, Gurmeet Singh, Mahesh Batra, Rajiv, Pritam Lal, Vikramjit Singh, Tarlochan Singh, Gaurav Gill, Karan Jaitka, Gorav Mehra, Neeraj Malhotra, and Mani. Two persons, Sabi and Pritam, managed to escape during the operation. — TNS Tribune News Service Jalandhar, September 27 The Central Information Commission (CIC), New Delhi, has directed the Central Bank of India to provide a copy of the report of an investigation carried out against its own employee in response to an RTI filed by a Jalandhar resident. Samir Ranjan Sur first made a complaint to the Central Bank of India against its employee on 30 July, 2022. He then filed an application on September 4, 2022, under the Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI Act) before the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the Central Bank of India, Punjab, seeking information about the status of the complaint. In the reply, the CPIO stated that the bank had got an internal investigation conducted in the matter and claimed the complaint was State-level event on Bhagat Singh’s birth anniv today Tribune News service forward openly. On the condition of anonymity, some say they did approach the authorities against the illegal mining in the area, but they were attacked by the mafia and faced harassment, forcing them to remain silent on the issue. People in the area say boundaries of Garhshankar and Rupnagar district aren’t marked, nor are officials of Roopnagar district taking any steps to contain the illegal mining, which is posing an existential threat to Shivalik hills. 6 of promised 46 youth got award on martyr: YC Nawanshahr, September 27 Paying obeisance at the ancestral place of Bhagat Singh in Khatkar Kalan on the eve of his birth anniversary, Punjab Youth Congress chief Mohit Mohindra took on the state government for having dithered on its last year’s promise to present youth awards in the name of the martyr to 46 youth. Mohindra said these awards were announced by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann last year for youth who excelled in various fields. “The Aam Aadmi Party which talks much of the freedom fighters and their struggle has played a cruel joke over these awards also. A cash award of Rs 50,000 has been announced for 46 youth but ultimately only six have been awarded.” The PYC chief said, “After announcing 46 awards to the deserving youth of Punjab (two from each district of Punjab), only 29 were selected by the Department of Youth Affairs and out of them also only six were given these awards. No reason for rejection was given to the others who were even asked to undergo the process of police verifications by their respective districts.” — TNS Punjab Youth Congress leaders and workers pay tribute to >> Shaheed Bhagat Singh at Khatkar Kalan on Wednesday. BANK HAD DENIED INFO In the formal response to the RTI, the bank’s CPIO maintained that the “information sought” about the investigation against the employee concerned was ‘personal information’ and would ‘cause unwarranted invasion of privacy. disposed of. Dissatisfied, Samir filed an appeal before the First Apellate Authority (FAA), Central Bank of India, on October 29, 2022. Samir, thereafter, filed a second appeal before the CIC on 16 January, 2023. The information sought by Samir included action taken by the bank on the complaint against employee; rules and regulations of the bank; name and rank of all the officers who have held the inquiry; any show-cause notice or disciplinary proceedings initiated against the said employee; any punish- ment or penalty awarded to the employee; whether the inquiry officer recommended any punishment or penalty; and the status report of the complaint filed against the employee. Additonally, the RTI also sought directions and guidelines of Reserve Bank of India and Central Vigilance Commission regarding criminal complaints against employees of public sector banks. In the formal response to the RTI, the bank’s CPIO denied the information. However, the CIC order, issued on August 28, states that, “Since the appellant had filed a complaint with the bank, principles of natural justice demand that a copy of the investigation report carried out by the bank, as agreed by them in their reply be made available to the appellant within three weeks from the date of receipt of the order.”