06032024-LT-01.qxd 06-03-2024 00:47 Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune OVERFLOWING SEWERS RAISE STINK FOR DORAHA RESIDENTS TRADER ‘KIDNAPPED’, ROBBED OF 1 KG GOLD A trader was allegedly kidnapped by carborne miscreants from Timber Market at gunpoint and robbed of gold. P3 PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 23°C | MIN 10°C YESTERDAY MAX 19°C | MIN 9°C SHRUTI HAASAN TALKS ABOUT ‘BIRTH CONTROL FOR MEN’ The poor civic amenities faced by residents of ward no 6 & 14 in Doraha are unimaginable. P2 FORECAST Ahead of Women’s Day, Shruti Haasan has spoken about the importance of birth control. P4 » » SUNSET WEDNESDAY 6:28 PM SUNRISE THURSDAY 6:46 AM » WEDNESDAY | 6 MARCH 2024 | LUDHIANA City gets e-buses, vehicle scrapping Budget evokes mixed unit, new facility at Verka milk plant reaction from industry ~150 cr allocated for upgrade of 20 hospitals in state to bring at par with dist PUNJAB BUDGET Nitin Jain DISAPPOINTING ❝The Budget has disappointed WOMEN NEGLECTED ❝The AAP govta has perpetrated HIGHLIGHTS ■ In his Budget speech, the The Budget allocates ~5,264 cr to enhance health services. It underscores a commitment to the well-being of the people of Punjab. The Budget is visionless, hollow and betrayal with the Punjabis. No steps have been taken in the Budget to revive the state economy. Sanjeev Arora, MP, RAJYA SABHA Jaiveer Shergill, BJP NATIONAL SPOKESPERSON Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said, “The upgrade of three district hospitals in Ludhiana, Sangrur and Jalandhar is being undertaken currently for providing best healthcare facilities to patients. I propose an allocation of Rs 150 crore in 2024-25 for undertaking different infrastructure upgrade in the remaining 20 district hospitals in a gradual manner.” ■ The project entails upgrade of health facilities to raise them at par with the private hospitals ■ Cheema announced that the govt was collaborating with the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to improve urban mobility and e-buses would soon run in the cities of Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Patiala have already been conducted and the consultants hired for the job have also submitted the detailed reports following which the work on revamp and upgrade of civil and medical services has also begun. In his Budget speech, the FM said, "The upgrade of three district hospitals in Ludhiana, Sangrur and Jalandhar is being undertaken currently for providing best healthcare facilities to patients. I propose an allocation of Rs 150 crore in 2024-25 for undertaking different infrastructure upgrade in the remaining 20 district hospitals in a gradual manner". Meanwhile, Ludhiana has bagged e-bus service for city transport, new facility at Verka milk plant, vehicle scrapping facility, and major push to infrastructure development and power projects conceived to benefit the residents of Ludhiana. However, unlike previous years, the district has not got any allocation for industry, agriculture, animal hus- Congress leaders, workers offer arrest Man found dead in Shimlapuri Tribune News Service Ludhiana, March 5 The Punjab Government on Tuesday allocated a sum of Rs 150 crore to be spent in the next financial year 2024-25 for the upgrade of 20 district hospitals in the state to bring them at par with the health facilities in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Sangrur, which were already undergoing a major revamp and upgrade. Notably, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora had recently adopted three district hospitals in the state. An announcement to this effect was made by the Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema while presenting the Punjab Budget for 2024-25 to the Vidhan Sabha in Chandigarh this morning. The project entails revamp of upgrade of health facilities to raise them at par with the private hospitals. For this purpose, two separate surveys to assess the present situation and plan the required services with respect to civil and health facilities all sections of society. The govt earmarked only ~575 cr for crop diversification, which is far less than expected. fraud with no allocation for the ~1,000 per month allowance promised to women two years back. Partap Singh Bajwa, LOP Sukhbir Singh Badal, SAD CHIEF ❞ FOCUS ON HEALTH ❝ ❞ ❞ VISIONLESS, HOLLOW ❝ ❞ Manav Mander Tribune News Service Ludhiana, March 5 Congress leaders and workers today offered their arrest in the case registered against them for disrupting services at a government office on February 27. Those booked included Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu, former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, former MLAcum-district Congress president Sanjay Talwar, senior deputy mayor Shyam Sundar Malhotra former and 60 unidentified persons. Addressing the party workers outside the Commissioner of Police office, Ravneet Bittu, said the police was doing their job, but we will not step back from our word and give arrest today. “If FIR can be registered against me and other senior leadership of the Ludhiana Congress for putting lock at the gate of corporation Police nab two smugglers with 11 gm heroin Ludhiana, March 5 The Khanna police yesterday arrested two smugglers and recovered 11 grams of heroin from their possession. The accused have been identified as Manpreet Singh and Gurbhej Singh both residents of Saide Shah Wala village in Moga. The police said a naka was set up opposite Pristine Mall on the highway. On suspicion, a Swift car was signalled to stop for checking. Later, when the car was thoroughly searched, 11-gm heroin was recovered from the car’s dashboard. The occupants of the car were immediately arrested and a case under the NDPS Act was registered. — TNS MP Ravneet Singh Bittu during a protest. TRIBUNE PHOTO office, then the same law should be applicable on Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also as he asked the Speaker of the Punjab Assembly to lock it. He even bought the lock on the Vidhan Sabha premises, which is a complete violation of the Constitution,” said Bittu. “The FIR is based on the statement of a watchman who was not even present there. Why the police are not regis- tering the an FIR against the CM?” questioned Ashu. They will continue to visit government offices in future as well and where ever any laxity in the work is found they will again put the lock at that office, added Sanjay Talwar. Today, there are around 15,000 applications pending in the 43 Sewa Kendras of the Ludhiana district. Over 870 have exceeded their time limit,” added Bittu. Ludhiana, March 5 A man was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a house in Shimlapuri on Monday late evening. The development came to light when people complained of foul smell emanting from a house on Barota road. Suspecting some foul play, people immediately informed the police. When the cops from the concerned police station reached the spot and broke the door, they found a body lying on the bed in the room. The deceased has been identified as Jagdev Singh (45). The deceased lived alone in the house. The police said body was decomposed and it seemed man could have been lying dead from several days. The preliminary investigation conducted by the police revealed that the person seemed to have been died of heart attack. — TNS bandry, health, investment promotion, sports and youth services sectors in the budget estimates for the next fiscal 2024-25. Cheema announced that the state government was collaborating with the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to improve urban mobility and e-buses would soon run in the cities of Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Patiala. Besides, an additional amount of Rs 900 crore was proposed for infra-projectstobeundertakenby the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) across various departments. "The focus of our government is to further strengthen the power infrastructure and make our powercoms more efficient and cost effective," the FM stressed, while detailing that several key initiatives were underway, including the construction of a new 400-KV substations in Ropar, strengthening of substations at Dhanansu (Ludhiana), Behman Jassa Singh and a 220 -KV substation at Sherpur in Ludhiana, were set to be commissioned shortly. Shivani Bhakoo Tribune News Service Ludhiana, March 5 The Punjab budget evoked mixed response from the industry. The All Industries and Trade Forum (AITF) strongly condemned the budget as it was “anti-industry and growth”. The industry was expecting some concession in power price and more funds for subsidies and industrial infrastructure development but the funds in all heads of industries were decreased, maintained AITF. The FICO also condemned the government for not providing major benefits to the industry in the present budget, while Association of Trade and Industrial Undertakings said that the budget will boost the MSME sector and many steps were in favour of industry. Badish Jindal, president, AITF said the budget had a , huge fiscal deficit of Rs 30,462 crore and revenue deficit of Rs 23,198 crore, which clearly shows that Punjab will move ahead in bankruptcy. Avtar Singh Bhogal from Bhogalsons said the focal points were in a bad shape, but the fund for the creation and development of focal points decreased from Rs STATE ON VERGE OF BANKRUPTCY ❝ The budget had a huge fiscal deficit of Rs 30,462 crore and revenue deficit of Rs 23,198 crore, which clearly shows that Punjab will move ahead in bankruptcy. Badish Jindal, PRESIDENT, ALL INDUSTRIES AND TRADE FORUM 59.11 crores to Rs 30 crores. Then The funds for investment promotion of state were decreased from Rs 17.64 crore to Rs 12.33 crore," said Bhogal. The FICO members said that the industry of Punjab was going through a period of crunch, and has been seeking the government's support. However, there is absolutely nothing for the industrial fraternity. Gurmit Singh Kular, president and Rajiv Jain, general secretary, FICO, said no special package has been provided for bicycle and textile Tribune News Service Ludhiana, March 5 Finally, the industrial focal points in Ludhiana have got cement concrete roads, the government has said. The work to relay 14.12-km stretches of the roads across six phases of the industrial focal points at the cost of Rs 25.2 crore has reached the advanced stage of completion, officials have confirmed. The development assumes significance as the majority of the roads in focal points of the industrial and business hub of the state were lying in dilapidated condition for the past long time, causing great inconvenience to the industrialists, workers and the residents of the industrial areas. The funds were released by the state government after the Rajya Sabha MP from Ludhiana, Sanjeev Arora, had taken up the matter with the Chief Minister, Bhagwant Mann, and had impressed upon him to release the much-needed funds to improve the bad condition of roads in various focal points owned and maintained by the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC). The MP said on Tuesday that the construction work was progressing fast and has already touched 77 per cent completion with three of the total six road projects already completed while the rest nearing completion. The work had been allotted at Rs 25.23 crore, which was Rs 6.59 crore less than the tender amount of Rs 31.82 crore, to reconstruct 16-km long six main roads with cement concrete across as many focal points in Ludhiana. Arora, who reviewed the progress of the project here recently, disclosed that a time limit ranging between 2months and 9-months had been fixed to complete the road construction work as per the laid down specifications and quality standards. According to the details, a road measuring 5.35-kmlong in Phase V being built at the cost of Rs 8.7 crore was 62 per cent complete, another 2.2-km-long road in Jeevan Nagar with two lanes of 22-foot-wide each in Phase V being recon- c m y b industries. “There is a prolonged demand for the New Focal Point in Ludhiana that has been totally ignored.Further, the existing industry of Punjab has also not been provided with power @ Rs 5/- net to the industry,” said Kular. Pankaj Sharma, president, Association of Trade & Industrial Undertakings (ATIU), said: “To give boost to the MSME sector of the state, the Finance Minister has announced to create MSME wing in the industry department which would help to expedite financial assistance to the industry. Construction of approach roads yet to start Railways had already completed section within its jurisdiction 3 months ago Tribune News Service Ludhiana, March 5 Even a month after the issuance of the work order, the construction of the approaches (access roads) to the railway overbridge (ROB) over the LudhianaDhuri rail tracks near Gill village has not commenced. It was previously anticipated that the work would commence by the end of January, but to no avail. Notably, the Railways had already completed the ROB section within its jurisdiction around three months ago. Sanjay Tiwari, a resident of the nearby area and a member of the Samaj Sewa Society, stated that they have raised the matter before GLADA officials multiple times, but it is still unclear when the work to construct the approaches for Work was supposed to commence by the end of January. the constructed portion of the ROB will commence. According to the information, GLADA had previously segmented the road construction for the Missing Link 2 Project into distinct sections, namely from Dhandra Road to the Dhuri Railway line and from the Dhuri Railway line to Malerkotla Road. There- after, ROB construction work was started by the Railways under its jurisdiction and completed it. Sanjay Tiwari emphasized that without the construction of the ROB approaches, the constructed bridge structures serve no purpose. Darshan Singh, a city resident, expressed concern that the project has been Work to relay 14.12-km roads in focal points nears completion Nitin Jain ❞ structed at Rs 6.38 crore was 53 per cent complete, a 1.14-km-long Hosiery Knitwear Road adjoining Phase VI being has already been relaid at Rs 1.76 crore, another 0.33-km-long stretch of service road to highway industry adjoining Phase VII has also been reconstructed at Rs 67 lakh, a 3.81-km-long road in Phase VIII being rebuilt at Rs 5.68 crore was 47 per cent complete, and another 1.29-km-long road in Phase VIII has also been relaid at Rs 2.01 crore.. Arora revealed that almost one-third work had already been completed and the balance work of 35 per cent would be finished within the stipulated time frame. He added that a sum of Rs 16.25 crore had already been spent on the ongoing work while the remaining sum of Rs 8.95 crore would be released as per the progress of the work. LOW COST, LONG LIFE Experts said the cement concrete roads, commonly known as CC roads, are known for their durability, strength, and low maintenance cost. Constructed using a mixture of cement, water, and aggregates, these roads are compacted and cured to form a hard and sturdy surface. According to them, as compared to asphalt, which typically requires resurfacing or complete repairs every 10 to 12 years, a concrete road has a lifespan of 20 to 30 years and requires minimal maintenance, resulting in lower maintenance costs. “Concrete is a reliable and cost-effective solution for building long-lasting and sustainable roads that can withstand the test of time,” the experts claimed. COMMITTED FOR BEST INFRA: MP “Another major demand of the local industrialists and industrial workers has been met with the road reconstruction project. Our government is committed to provide best in class infrastructure, facilities, and work environment to the existing industries while attracting new investments to the state, especially Ludhiana.” Sanjeev Arora, Rajya Sabha, MP . delayed for a long time. Even now, the construction of the approaches has not commenced. “We want to make another appeal to the authorities concerned to initiate the construction of approaches at the earliest so that the public may benefit from the ROB”, he added. An official of GLADA stated that the allotment for construction work has been made to the successful bidder. He said that the matter is under consideration by higher officials and work is expected to commence on the ground within the next 10 days. The estimated cost for the construction of approaches for the ROB is around Rs 25 crore. Besides, GLADA had released around Rs 21.84 crore to Railways in 2019 for the construction of the ROB section within the jurisdiction of the Railways. Farmers hold protest outside mini-secretariat Ludhiana, March 5 Various farmer unions, including Bhartiya Kissan Union Ekta (Ugrahan), Krantikari Kisan Union Bharat, Kirti Kisan Union, today staged a dharna outside the mini secretariat. Farm unions were putting forward their demand for guarantee of MSP on crops. “We are going to Delhi to put forward our demands but the sad part is that government is not allowing us even to enter Delhi, what to consider about our demands. We will continue our struggle till our demands are met,” said general secretary of BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) Saudagar Singh. — TNS
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