24012024-ATR-01.qxd 1/24/2024 12:37 AM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY THREE LPU NCC CADETS TO TAKE PART IN R-DAY PARADE ACTOR NICOLE KIDMAN TO STAR IN JUSTIN KURZEL’S MICE PADMA LAKSHMI TALKS ABOUT HER ‘BIG ISSUE’ WITH TOP CHEF They have been adjudged among the best NCC cadets of the country after 100 days of camp training.P2 The two have worked on Nitramand and upcoming TV series The Narrow Road to the Deep North. P3 Last year, India-born supermodel, TV host and actor outlined her reasons for quitting the show after 17 yrs. P4 » » » MAX 12°C | MIN 5°C YESTERDAY MAX 10°C | MIN 7°C SUNSET WEDNESDAY 5.56 PM SUNRISE THURSDAY 7.27 AM WEDNESDAY | 24 JANUARY 2024 | AMRITSAR AQI level rises in city, rain relief likely Amritsar, January 23 Bursting crackers to celebrate the consecration of Ram temple at Ayodhya has increased air pollution in the city during the past 24 hours. Much to the dismay of environmentalists and concerned citizens, the Air Quality Index (AQI) in city increased from 130 to 155 during the last 24 hours, as per the data made available by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB). The wind velocity has been at its lowest ebb during the past one day, causing the pollutants to remain in the immediate environment of the city. Environmentalists are of the view that had there been velocity in the wind, the pollutants would have been easily swept away. The air pollution level of the city improved considerably after the conclusion of the stubble-burning season. They anticipated that the air quality would improve considerably with the arrival of rain and blowing of wind. After some days of shivering cold and invisible sun, the city received moderate sunlight late in the afternoon today. — TNS Cabinet Minister Hayer takes stock of development works Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 23 Cabinet Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer took stock of ongoing development works in the district on Tuesday. Meet Hayer, who has been entrusted the responsibility of Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, came here specially to take stock of the ongoing development works in the district. In a meeting held here with district officials, he directed that a special campaign should be launched for cleanliness. First of all, the surroundings of the Golden Temple should be cleared of garbage and the arrangement of lifting garbage in wet and dry parts should be completed within two months, he said. He said people’s money should not be misused and people-oriented works should be done on time. Referring to waste management in the city, he asked the MC officials to give a detailed report in the next meeting. He said the responsibility of creating a Two peddlers nabbed with 3-kg opium, ammunition Were on their way to deliver the consignment of contraband Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service Cabinet Minister Gurmeet Singh Hayer (centre) and district officials during a meeting in Amritsar on Tuesday. TRIBUNE PHOTO clean environment was on all of us and it was necessary for us and our future. The Cabinet Minister reviewed the progress of Unity Mall being built in the district, the works being done under Swadesh Darshan, Smart City, MGNREGA, the Public Works Department, the Panchayat Department and other departments. Speaking on the occasion, Cabinet Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal stressed on developing good infrastruc- ture for the convenience of thousands of tourists coming daily at the Attari border. He said by carrying out maximum work under MNREGA in villages, where villages should be developed, employment opportunities should be created for people. Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori gave an assurance on behalf of the district officials that whatever order was received from the government, all officials would work on it honestly. Amritsar, January 23 Crime Investigating Agency (CIA) Staff-2, Amritsar, claimed to have exposed an inter-state drug smuggling racket by arresting two accused here on Tuesday. CIA staff also recovered 3-kg opium, a revolver, two rifles, drug money and an SUV from their possession. The drug smugglers have been identified as Surjit Singh (44), a resident of Bhagupur Uttar village, and Gurkirat Singh (21), a resident of Hargobindpura Guru Ki Wadali in Chheharta area. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Investigation) Harpreet Singh Mander said a team under the supervision of Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (City-2) Prabhjot Singh, Assistant Commissioner of Police (West) Kamaljit Singh Aulakh and Two accused in custody of CIA staff in Amritsar on Tuesday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR CIA Staff-2 in-charge Dilbagh Singh conducted a special operation on the basis of a secret information and nabbed the accused from the area near Pratap Steel Mill at Chheharta. The police got a tip-off that the accused were on their way to deliver the consignment of the contraband to an unidentified person. The police recovered 3 kg of opium, a .32 bore revolver, a .12 bore rifle, a spring field 306 bore rifle, 44 cartridges, ~20,000 drug money and two mobile phones from them. The police also seized a Fortuner (SUV) on which the two were going to supply the opium consignment. The police are expecting more recovery of drugs from them during further investigation. Commissioner of Police Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the entire network of drug suppliers, dealers and their buyers would be traced. “Further investigation is underway to find out the backward and forward links of the arrested accused and we will expose the entire network from where the accused took drugs and who were the buyers. Efforts are being made to ascertain the total quantity of drugs purchased by the accused so far,” said the Commissioner of Police. A case under Sections 18, 25, 27, 29, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act and Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act has been registered at the Chheharta police station in Amritsar. The police said one of the accused, Surjit Singh, faced a case under the NDPS Act in Tarn Taran district. 10 shops sealed for not paying rent NOC applicants for sale Currency worth ~7.25L robbed of property a harried lot from money transfer company Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 23 The municipal corporation has sealed 10 shops sublet to tenants in the Gol Bagh area of the city due to non-payment of rent. The MC owns a total of 52 shops in Gol Bagh on the back side of railway station. All these shops have been let out on rent. Of these, 17 shopkeepers had not paid the outstanding rent running into lakhs to the municipal corporation for a long time. The estate wing of the Municipal Corporation issued a notice to the 17 shopkeepers to pay the rent soon. Seven of the shopkeepers complied and paid rent. Taking strict action against the violators, Estate Officer Dharminderjit Singh along with rent clerk Sanjay Bawa, Rajeev Mehta, junior assistant Arun Sahajpal and a team of the estate wing sealed 10 shops. Estate Officer Dharmendrajit Singh said that until the shopkeepers deposit the outstanding rent with the FIR sought against woman posing as IFS officer in city Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 23 After a woman posing as an Indian Foreign Service Officer appeared for the registration of a sale deed, the revenue department had brought the issue to the notice of the district administration on which the Deputy Commissioner has recommended registration of an First Information Report (FIR) against the fraudster. The woman posing as an IFS officer had deposed before the office of the SubRegistrar, Amritsar-III. The investigations found that the woman had tried to sell off a property not belonging to her. The district administration has also recommended action against five other persons who were involved in the deal. Tribune News Service Our Correspondent Civic body officials seal a shop in Amritsar on Tuesday. Municipal Corporation, the shops will remain sealed. He said that the tenants, who are not paying the outstanding rent for shops to the Municipal Corporation in other areas will also be sealed. Apart from this, the estate wing of MC demolished a building constructed on MC land at Majitha Road. The MC officials got information that construction was being done by someone on Municipal Corporation land located on Majitha Road. There was no approval from the Municipal Corporation for construction. The Estate Office staff led by the Estate Officer visited the site and demolished the construction. Amritsar, January 23 Applicants for no-objection certificate (NOC) for the sale of property in unauthorised colonies and approval of building plans are a harried a lot due to the attitude of Town Planning wing officials. The applicants have to wait for months to get the NOC for plots. The applications are being filed by private architects needing approval from the Building Inspector, Assistant Town Planner and Municipal Town Planner. The applicants have to visit the MC office several times to get their work done. Sandeep Singh, one of the applicants, said, “I applied for the NOC in November 2023 but there is no clue as to when the application would be processed.” Though the state government claims that all the applications are being accepted online and work is being done within the stipulated timeframe, the situation on the ground is contrary to claims. Apart from NOC, the applicants for building plan approval are also being made to wait for long. After the transfer of the MC Commissioner, there was no access to the MC portal to give approval to building plans. “The official portal of the MC for issuing NOCs and approval of building plans online was non-operational since December 22. Now the portal is functional, the pending work will be completed soon,” said the Joint MC Commissioner. Tarn Taran, January 23 A money transfer firm, AM Royal Company, located on the main road in city, was looted of currency worth Rs 7.25 lakh by two masked and armed robbers in the early hours on Tuesday. DSP Tarsem Masih along with the local city police reached the spot to investigate the matter. DSP Masih said that as soon as the market opened at about 9 am, two motorcycle-borne masked robbers arrived on the spot, fully armed. One of the robbers entered the office of the company and the other remained near the motorcycle. The robbers asked Amritpal Singh, partner of the company, to hand him over all the currency and threatened to kill him in case he refused to do so. Cops investigate the robbery case in Tarn Taran on Tuesday. The robbers took the keys of the cash counter from Amritpal Singh and looted the currency kept on the cash counter. Amritpal Singh said the value of the currency, both Indian and foreign, was around Rs 7.25 lakh. The robbers took away the CCTV cameras installed in the company office. The office of the company was in front of the official residence of a DSP and a police post is located there. DSP Tarsem Masih said the police have started scanning the footage of CCTV cameras to identify the robbers. The city police have registered a case under relevant sections of the IPC in this regard. Extend 10-2.30 pm Indian fashion will witness exciting times: JJ Valaya school timings: DTF Neha Saini Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 23 Keeping in view the prevailing low temperature and fog that continues throughout the state, the Democratic Teachers Front (DTF) Punjab has raised the demand to extend the changed school timings for primary and secondary classes. The current timings in all private and government schools are from 9 am till 3.30 pm. The DTF has requested the department to consider safety during the commute for teachers as well as students and change the timings from 10 am to 2.30 pm. Earlier, the state government had changed the school timings in state from 10 am to 3 pm till January 14, in view of the safety of students during the bone-chilling cold weather. While issuing a statement in this regard, the state president of the organisation Vikram Dev Singh said that this year in the whole of North India, including Punjab, severe win- ter is being witnessed. “Many parts of Punjab have not seen sun for over a week, while the prevailing fog and cold wave is at its peak. Due to low visibility in the morning and evening, school commute for children and adults is quite difficult, especially for those who come from far. The mercury is close to negative at many places in Punjab. In this weather of extreme cold and fog, it has become very difficult for children to get ready and reach school on time in the morning. Many students and teachers have lost their lives or received injuries due to accidents in the fog. In the afternoon itself, the blanket of fog envelops the city surroundings and it becomes difficult for children to go home from school so late.” They demanded that timings for primary, middle, high and secondary schools be changed to 10 am to 2.30 pm till January 31, 2024. — TNS Amritsar, January 23 JJ Valaya has been a master revivalist, whether it is his designs or the brand itself. Three decades into the fashion industry, Valaya has managed to create a niche, with his signature blend of royal aesthetics and unmatched flair through his designs, which has only grown in value in Indian fashion scene. The ace couturier, who chooses to stay behind the scenes in times when building a fashion label means ‘being omnipresent’, was in Amritsar and got candid as he shared insights into the brand and the man behind it at a special session curated by Phulkari Women of Amritsar at Radisson Blu, Amritsar. Valaya said he believes in creating pieces that stand the test of time. “I feel that as designers in India, it’s our duty to keep the Indian craft alive and that it stays relevant. It has been my mission to bring together the past and future through my designs. As once Maharani c m y b Ace couturier JJ Valaya, who has been into the fashion industry for over three decades, with members of Phulkari WOA at a special interactive session in Amritsar on Tuesday. TRIBUNE PHOTO Geeta Devi of Kapurthala had shared with me after looking at my designs, it seemed like the future of the past,” he said. His foresight and creativity have given a fresh and vibrant identity to Indian fashion, ensuring that it can be intertwined with cultural richness. Reviving not just the Indian craft and Karigars, he also shared how he revived his brand with JJV Kapurthala collection which came out in 2019. “One of the defining moments of my life was when I decided to shut shop and disappear, literally, in 2017, just after celebrating 25 years of being in business. After two years of sabbatical, just when everybody thought the brand is done with, we came back with JJV Kapurthala, a collection inspired by my roots in Punjab.” It was inspired by Maharaja Jagatjit Singh of Kapurthala’s travels and distinct royal aesthetics. “I am a nomad at heart and I believe in three core principles that my brand symbolises – royalty, art deco and nomad aesthetics. Also, as a revivalist, I am not a historian but I do a lot of research before getting down to the basics of designing a collection knowing that you have to push the boundaries and reinvent,” he shared. The one to go global before the ‘India has arrived on global fashion map’ hype began, Valaya also shared his experience of working with Oscar winning fashion designer Ruth Carter for ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’. “It’s an interesting story as Ruth discovered me through Instagram and approached for a collaboration before Black Panther 2. In ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’, we designed for Angela Basset’s role of Queen Ramonda. Ruth won her second Oscar for ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’.” From his days as a budding designer at a time when nobody wrote about fashion and there were only a handful of designers working to create an industry to the contemporary cut-throat, fast-fashion influenced industry, Valaya said that Indian fashion will witness exciting times ahead. “Just theatre and fabric is not fashion, nor one or two Indian designers showcasing at global fashion weeks a testament to Indian fashion industry’s scope. India as a country has arrived and in sync with that, the fashion industry too needs to come together, focusing on bringing the rich tapestry of Indian craft and textiles, techniques on global scale.”
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