11112023-LT-01.qxd 11/11/2023 12:57 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune FACTORY CONTRACTOR HELD FOR VIOLATING MINOR JASON MOMOA'S FILM DEEP RISING TO PREMIERE IN INDIA DWAYNE JOHNSON APPROACHED TO RUN FOR THE WHITE HOUSE Contractor of a factory had sexually exploited the 16-year-old girl, a worker, several times. P2 Hollywood star Jason Momoa’s highly acclaimed film Deep Risingwill be making its Indian premiere at ALT EFF. P4 Hollywood star Dwayne Johnson has been approached by political parties to run in the next US elections. P4 » » FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY MAX 26°C | MIN 13°C YESTERDAY MAX 21°C | MIN 18°C SUNSET SATURDAY 5.31 PM SUNRISE SUNDAY 6:50 AM » SATURDAY | 11 NOVEMBER 2023 | LUDHIANA Two farm fire incidents, AQI remains poor Major fires break out at 2 yrs on, waste-to-energy plant not set up for processing daily refuse garment, plastic factories WASTE MANAGEMENT-IV Harshraj Singh Tribune News Service Huge stocks reduced to ashes, fire men take hours to douse flames Tribune News Service Ludhiana, November 10 Today only two cases of stubble burning were reported in the district. Ludhiana received rainfall today that might be the main reason behind the same. A total of 1,108 cases have been reported so far. The average air quality index (AQI) recorded today was 267. The AQI at 8 am today was 265, at 10 am 266, at 2 pm it was recorded 271 and at 4 pm it was 267. The AQI remained in the poor quality. No FIR for burning stubble has been lodged in the district so far. Till now, six prosecutions have been filed under the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act and no FIR has been filed under Section 188 of the IPC (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant). A total of Rs 7,35,000 has been imposed and Rs 82,500 has been recovered as environmental compensation. 25 fresh cases of dengue Ludhiana, November 10 A major fire broke out in a garment factory at Shakti Nagar here on Friday morning. A huge stock of garments worth lakhs gutted in the fire. A call regarding the incident was received by the fire station office around 6 am. Following which, fire tenders pressed into service. Fire was in the basement and first floor of the factory. Firefighters took almost five hours to completely douse the flames. Fire officials said when they reached the spot, main gate of the factory was lying closed and they had to break open the gate to enter the unit to douse the flames. The factory owner said yesterday night he had locked the factory and on Friday morning, there was some short-circuit in electricity cables and the spark engulfed the scooter parked inside the factory. After the scooter caught fire, a blast also occurred, which further spread the fire to other parts of the factory. Meanwhile, a few more fire incidents were reported on Thursday night in the city. In the first incident, a The garment factory where a fire broke out at Shakti Nagar in Ludhiana on Friday. TRIBUNE PHOTO fire broke out in a house in Sunder Nagar around 11.40 pm on Thursday. The fire caused due to a leakage in a LPG cylinder. But no major loss was reported. Another major fire broke out in a plastic furniture manufacturing unit in Focal Point, Phase VIII, Neechi Mangli, on Friday night. The incident occurred around 8.30 pm. Several fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames. Panic erupted in the area when the fire broke out. At the time of filing this report, fire fighters were on the job to douse the flames. Loss could be in lakhs as a huge stock of plastic furniture was stored in the unit. Three vehicles engulfed in scrap godown fire A fire incident also occurred at a scrap godown in Maharana Pratap Nagar last night. Three vehicles parked on the road near the godown were also caught fire during the incident. The three vehicles that caught fire were a garbage pick-up vehicle of the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, and two private cars. Earlier, there were rumours that some unidentified miscreants had set vehicles on fire but later, sub-fire officer Aatish Rai said the godown fire reportedly engulfed the vehicles which also reduced to ashes. Ludhiana, November 10 Following the termination of services by a private waste management company in February 2021, the waste processing plant it operated at the Municipal Corporation’s Jamalpur dumpsite near Kakka village had become non-functional and is now in a deteriorated state. A dispute between the company and the MC has been in arbitration since then. Despite the corporation’s plans that were prepared after February 2021 to establish a waste-to-energy plant, Bio-CNG plant, etc, for daily processing of fresh waste, no progress has been made on the grounds. Thus, a significant volume of newly generated waste is continuously accumulating at the MC’s main dumpsite, causing pollution in the absence of the required processing facility for the fresh waste. MC officials had earlier visited Indore, Chennai, Delhi, Rajasthan and Prayagraj to study the solid waste management systems of those cities so that Ludhiana’s waste management system could be improved. Following a visit to a waste-to-energy plant in Delhi in July 2021, the then Mayor Balkar Singh INDERJEET VERMA Tribune News Service A waste processing plant lying non-functional at Jamalpur dumpsite. DISPUTE BETWEEN FIRM, MC IN ARBITRATION A dispute between the company and the Municipal Corporation has been in arbitration since the termination of services by a private waste management company in February 2021. Sandhu (now former mayor) expressed optimism about improving waste management in Ludhiana. However, despite plans to establish a waste-to-energy plant in the city, no such facility has been established to date. In November 2022, the civic body authorities had also planned to set up two new plants to manage 700 metric tonnes of waste of the daily around 1,100 MT. The officials then shared information about MC’s plans to establish a bio-CNG plant handling 200 MT of wet waste daily and another plant handling 500 MT of dry waste daily. Also, these planned plants have not been realised. Kuldeep Singh Khaira, a representative from the Vigilant Citizens’ Forum (an NGO), said: “Despite the daily generation of approximately 1,100 MT of waste in the city, the corporation has failed in ensuring the proper and daily processing of the fresh waste. During the past two-and-ahalf years, an estimated 10 LMT of waste have been generated in the city and accumulated at the MC’s main dumpsite. Even before February 2021, the private waste management company had failed continued on page 2 Tribune News Service Ludhiana, November 10 On Friday, 25 cases of dengue were reported from the district, of which 21 were from urban and four from rural areas. A total of 969 cases of dengue have been reported so far from the district. Today, there were 116 active cases in the district, of which 90 belong to urban and 26 from rural areas. Eighteen persons have lost their lives to dengue in the district so far. Dengue fever is a flu-like illness that affects infants, young children and adults. Its symptoms include high fever, severe headaches, joint and muscle pain, vomiting, skin rash and mild bleeding. Infant stolen from rly station rescued in 20 hours Ludhiana, November 10 A three-month-old baby stolen from the Ludhiana railway station was found after 20-hour struggle by the Government Railway Police (GRP) and Railway Protection Police (RPF) in a joint operation. The suspects have been identified as Jatinder and his wife Poonam, alias Pooja, a native of Bihar, at present staying in Kapurthala. Superintendent of Police, GRP , Balram Rana, while addressing mediapersons stated that the child was recovered safely from a couple in Kapurthala late on Thursday night. Three -month-old child recovered safely from a Bihar couple in Kapurthala SUSPECTS CHANGED STATEMENTS The SP, GRP, Balram Rana, said the suspects were constantly changing their statements. Poonam said her husband liked the child while roaming at the railway station and he decided to steal him. Later, she again changed her statement and said she wanted to raise the child at home. Her husband said he stole the child as he he thought he was lying abandoned. SP Balram Rana said the GRP and RPF had launched a joint operation to recover the infant and finally tasted success. Joint teams checked several CCTV cameras to trace the couple with child. Rana said after stealing the child, the couple took an auto-rickshaw from outside the railway station and reached the bus stand. Then they went to Kapurthala. During questioning, Jatin- der admitted that they took a bus to Jalandhar from Jalandhar Bypass. To deceive the police, they took another bus from Jalandhar to Kapurthala, the SP said, adding that they were constantly changing their statements. Poonam said her husband liked the child while roaming at the railway station and he decided to steal him. Later, the woman again changed her statement and said she wanted to raise the child at home. Jatinder said he stole the child as he was lying alone at the railway station and he thought he was lying abandoned. The police said the couple had been staying in Kapurthala for the past 10 years. Jatinder works as a daily wager. Both husband and wife had come to Ludhiana for shopping before going to Bihar. The baby boy was stolen from the railway station on the intervening night of November 8 and 9. The family had come to Ludhiana from Bihar and had to go to Jandiali here. Child’s mother Sonam Devi and father Upinder Patel after reaching the railway station on Thursday night decided to take rest during which the miscreants stole the child. — TNS Over 20K to pedal in nation’s biggest anti-drug cycle rally Police initiative to commemorate Sarabha’s martyrdom day, cyclists from martyrs’ lands to bring sacred soil along for planting saplings Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Ludhiana, November 10 In what would be a record of sorts, over 20,000 enthusiasts will be pedalling in the country’s biggest cycle rally against the scourge of drugs being held here on November 16. With one-week yet to go for the mega event being organised by the Ludhiana Commissionerate Police to commemorate the 108th death anniversary of Sardar Kartar Singh Sarabha, the youngest freedom fighter who had laid down his life for the nation at the age of 19 in 1915, over 15,000 cyclists have already registered themselves for participation in the one-of-itskind initiative. Over 20,000 cyclists paddling for 13-km in Ludhiana will create a national record as it will be the highest participated cycle rally for any cause in the entire country so far. Besides Sarabha, the event will also commemorate great martyrs Bhagat CP Mandeep Sidhu gives away a bicycle to a winner of a painting contest ahead of cycle rally in Ludhiana on Friday. TRIBUNE PHOTO CM, TOP COP LIKELY TO JOIN RALLY Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann and Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav are among dignitaries likely to join the mega event. Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev and Udham Singh. For the purpose, the cyclists from five different national memorials of the martyrs will bring along the sacred soil, with which five saplings under different themes will be planted here as a mark of remembrance. Commissioner of Police (CP) Mandeep Singh Sidhu, told The Tribune, here on Friday that the Commissionerate Police had coordinated with educational, social, business, trade and other organisations to spread awareness about the initiative and ensure maximum participa- tion in the event. Christened as “Youth against drugs”, the cycle rally will take off from the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) campus here at 7 am on Thursday and after criss-crossing 13-km distance through various roads and flyovers, it will culminate at the same spot. Sidhu, who is the brain behind the initiative as he had already organised such events in the past during his postings at other places in the state, said so far, the biggest cycle rally for a cause of drugs had not witnessed the participation of more than 1011,000 cyclists. “Our endeavour is to make it the biggest with the target of 20,000 cyclists taking over roads and streets of Ludhiana to spread awareness against drugs and commemorate the great sacrifice of Sarabha,” the CP expressed while stating that in view of the overwhelming response, the number of participants will surely breach the target figure and touch an c m y b unexpected high. He said the salient feature of the event would be the participation of cyclists from the sacred lands of great martyrs – Sarabha near Ludhiana, Sukhdev’s native place in Ludhiana, Udham Singh from Sunam, National Martyrs’ Memorial in Hussainiwala and Bhagat Singh memorial in Khatkar Kalan. “They will be bringing sacred soil from all five places/ memorials, which will be used to plant five saplings on the PAU campus as a lifetime remembrance to apprise the young and future generations about the supreme sacrifice of our martyrs for the motherland,” Sidhu said. Each sapling will be dedicated to a great martyr and will be labelled as “trees of promise, hope, harmony, unity and wisdom”. JCP Saumya Mishra, who is among senior officers supervising arrangements for the event, said meetings had already been done with principals of 400 private and 55 government schools, Indian Medical Association (IMA), zonal managers of 25 banks, women entrepreneurs, NGOs, cyclist associations and other sections of society. “With over 15,000 registrations already done, more enthusiasts are pouring in continuously,” she said while mentioning that almost 4,000-odd police personnel from Ludhiana will also pedal along with other participants in the rally. Meanwhile, painting competitions were conducted in all local schools as part of the awareness campaign for the event and winners were given 25 bicycles as awards. Saumya said all participants would be given jerseys, medals, certificates and refreshments. “While registration is mandatory for getting a certificate, it is not mandatory for participation in the rally,” she clarified while hoping that several cyclists would also join the event sans registrations. continued on page 2 A vendor covers his items amid rain in Ludhiana. HIMANSHU MAHAJAN Rain disappoints roadside vendors selling festive wares Shivani Bhakoo Tribune News Service Ludhiana, November 10 Roadside vendors displaying diyas, candles, hatris, torans (decorative hangings) in different areas of the city, including Ghumar Mandi, BRS Nagar and Model Town, were a disappointed lot as rain proved to be a spoilsport as far as their Diwali earnings was concerned. As rain started right in the morning, roadside vendors had to cover their stalls with tarpaulin to save their products. Jagat, a 70-year-old vendor near Khalsa College for Women, Ghumar Mandi, said this was the time when he could earn a reasonable amount. “I had some health problems and could not make diyas and had to purchase entire material. But rains dampened my spirits as there was no footfall of customers. When rains stopped for a while, some buyers did turn up but that would hardly serve my purpose,” he said in a disappointed tone. Like Jagat, other potters too looked disappointed and had to save their material kept on the roadside. Hard- ly were the buyers seen in markets due to incessant rain and mud all around. Serpentine queues of vehicles were witnessed in the markets and there were traffic jams all over. Mohini, a homemaker, said she was stuck for an hour in the traffic jam on Rani Jhansi Road and had to take an alternative route to reach Mall Road. “Even on Mall Road, the stretch was blocked and traffic moved at a snail’s pace,” she rued. Good business for florists At the same time, it was a day of brisk business for flower shops near Jagraon bridge where right from early morning, buyers made bulk purchases of flowers. A vendor said from Dhanteras to Diwali, there remains a huge demand for flowers, which reach the city on a daily basis from UP and Delhi. “We are selling flowers in kilograms and for making rangolis, etc, buyers get flowers in bulk quantity. It is the peak season for us and flowers worth lakhs are sold during these three-four days,” said Bhagat, a flower vendor.