10032024-LT-01.qxd 3/10/2024 12:52 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune CIVIL HOSPITAL GETS HEPATITIS DRUG, NEW PATIENTS WELCOME 6 MEMBERS OF GANG HELD FOR SNATCHING CATTLE, VEHICLES DEMI LOVATO HAS A BEAUTY ADVICE FOR HER TEENAGE SELF Giving much relief to patients, Ludhiana Civil Hospital has finally received the medicine for Hepatitis C. P2 Five vehicles were recovered from six suspects arrested after a five-hour coordinated operation. P3 Singer-songwriter Demi Lovato has spoken up about influence of beauty standards on her teenage self. P4 » » » FORECAST GENERALLY CLOUDY MAX 26°C | MIN 11°C YESTERDAY MAX 26°C | MIN 11°C SUNSET SUNDAY 6.31 PM SUNRISE MONDAY 6:41 AM SUNDAY | 10 MARCH 2024 | LUDHIANA Major lapse: No SOPs, guidelines for National Lok Adalat settles 58K cases, awards ~90 crore permitting sewer connections in city Legal Correspondent GIASPURA GAS TRAGEDY Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Ludhiana, March 9 In what appears to be a major lapse on the part of the civic authorities, there is no standard operating procedures (SOPs) or guidelines for providing no objection certificate (NOC) or permitting connections to sewer lines and maintenance or desilting of the lines in the city. It has been admitted by the Municipal Corporation (MC) and the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board (PWSSB) before the Centre’s joint panel, comprising senior functionaries of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Delhi, constituted by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to conduct a fresh independent probe into the Giaspura gas leak tragedy. In its 58-page inquiry report submitted before the NGT recently, a copy of which is with The Tribune, the joint probe panel submitted that as per information provided by the PWSSB, the sewer lines in Ludhiana were commissioned in 2002-03. “The MC, which was the agency responsible for operation and maintenance of the sewer lines, said they allow sewer connections in Civic body, PWSSB admit before Centre’s joint panel, also concede no bifurcation of commercial, industrial sewer connections TIMELINE NDRF and police personnel at the tragedy site near Giaspura. FILE two categories — domestic and commercial — and there is no bifurcation of commercial/ industrial. There is also no SOPs/ guidelines for providing NOC/ permitting connection to the sewer lines, maintenance of sewer lines, including desilting of sewer,” the Central joint committee reported while presenting written reply letters provided in this regard by the MC on December 29, 2023, and the PWSSB on December 22, 2023. The Centre’s inquiry panel further submitted that of the earlier surveyed 118 industries jointly by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) and the MC, it was reported that majority of the units were tiny and small scale and were white category non-polluting units. “Twenty two electroplating/ pickling/ surface finishing industries were located in a 500-m radius from the affected site/ location, as surveyed after the gas leak. Of the 22 units, 15 were located upstream of the affected area, where the flow of the main sewer line flows in opposite directions while the remaining seven units were not falling in the catchment of sewer in the affected area,” the NGT-appointed joint probe committee reported. Presenting details of industrial units sending effluents to Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) for the period of the past one year between April 1, 2022, and April 30, 2023, received from the CETP authorised processor, the Central expert team said the records provided by Take a break APRIL 30, 2023: Gas leak tragedy claimed 11 lives, left four injured MAY 2: NGT take suo motu cognisance, orders probe OCTOBER 11: PPCB-led inquiry panel submits 397-page probe report OCTOBER 13: NGT “rejects” report, orders fresh investigation by CPCB-led committee JANUARY 5, 2024: CPCB seeks more time, NGT grants four weeks MAR 4: Central joint panel submits fresh probe report before NGT the CETP operator were examined and it was found that the effluents from member units were being lifted by the CETP operator on a monthly basis. The joint Central panel, comprising MoEF&CC Deputy Inspector General of Forests (DIGF) Raja Ram Singh, CPCB Member Secretary Bharat Kumar Sharma and Delhi IIT chemical engineering professor Sreedevi Upadhyayula, has also found “faults” with the sewer lines at the houses of the victims without pinpointing any culprits of 11 lives lost in the tragedy. The NGT was, however, yet to take up the report. Earlier, the NGT had on October 13 last “rejected” the report of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) chairman-led joint inquiry com- mittee, while terming it “not convincing” and had ordered a fresh independent probe into the sudden release of high concentration of hydrogen sulphide (H2S) gas from a roadside manhole in Giaspura here on April 30 last, which had claimed 11 lives, including five of a family, and had left four injured. Holes in ‘rejected’ probe The NGT had pointed out major “anomalies” in the investigation conducted by the PPCB chairman-led joint panel while ordering a fresh independent probe into the incident. NGT took suo motu notice Taking a suo motu notice of the incident, the NGT Principal Bench, headed by the then chairperson Adarsh Kumar Goel and comprising the then judicial member Sudhir Agarwal and executive member Dr A Senthil Vel, had on May 2 last ordered to constitute the panel to inquire and submit its report to the Tribunal on or before June 30. Taking up the matter on October 13 last, the NGT Principal Bench, headed by chairperson Prakash Shrivastava, and comprising judicial member Sudhir Agarwal and expert member A Senthil, had said the report had attributed the gas leak to the escape of gases from the sewer line, which “does not appear to be convincing”. The National Lok Adalat in progress at a local court in Ludhiana. of Lok Adalat, he said court fees incurred in cases disposed of through Lok Adalats were ordered to be refunded. He said it would save money and time of both parties, thereby reducing mutual enmity and increasing love. There was no further appeal against the judgment passed through the Lok Adalat, thus ending the dispute forever. Pending suits, motor accident claim cases, matrimonial matters, cheque-bounce cases, pre-litigative disputes and other cases were disposed of ami- Raikot, March 9 The Ludhiana (rural) police have initiated a probe into an incident in which some unidentified miscreants had set a car on fire after pouring some inflammable substance on the vehicle in Maulvian Mohalla here on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. Circumstantial evidence suggests that the window panes of the car were broken before setting the vehicle on fire. Bunty Singh of Maulvian Mohalla alleged that some unidentified persons had allegedly set his Maruti Swift car on fire after pouring some Ludhiana, March 9 Three children went missing under mysterious circumstances from Jiwan Nagar, Focal Point, on Thursday. Kin of the children suspected that their children might had been kidnapped by some unidentified persons. The Focal Point police yesterday registered a case against unidentified The car that was set afire in Raikot late on Friday night. TRIBUNE PHOTO inflammable substance on it. The vehicle was parked in front of his house on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. Though Bunty had come to know about the incident at 2 Suspects held by VB also duped Hry family of ~52L IMPERSONATION BY GANG Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Suspect Pinder Sodhi in Vigilance Bureau custody. FILE PHOTO closed that their gang also committed a loot in Haryana by impersonating as officers of the premier investigating agency of the country. After their disclosures, the victims cheated by the suspects also approached the Haryana Police and after recording their statements, the Haryana Police had also registered a case against them on March 7. Now, Haryana Police officials have confirmed that they would bring the sus- pects on production warrant. Sarabjit Rinku, a resident of Pehowa, said today that on June 6, 2023, four suspects, namely Paramjit, Manjit, Pinder and Parminder, came in a Toyota Corolla vehicle and barged into their house. Posing as CBI officials, they first snatched mobiles of his parents. “My father and mother were present at home. They asked my father to hand over black money, which he recently got by selling a land. When they failed to extort money from my father, the suspects took him in their car and went towards the Ambala highway where I also reached. They took Rs 10 lakh lying in my car and also encashed Rs 10 lakh cheque from bank. A sum of Rs 21 lakh was got transferred in their bank account by them. On June 19, they again came to our house and got transferred Rs 10 lakh in their account. I gave Rs 1 lakh to them at a court in Chandigarh. I met Pooja Rani, another suspect, at the court where she was introduced by other suspects as senior CBI officer,” the complainant alleged. He said on February 29 when the Ludhiana VB nabbed Pinder Sodhi, one of their relatives staying in Punjab informed him and he reached Ludhiana to meet the Vigilance SSP Ravinderpal Sandhu and in the presence of the c m y b official, he identified Pinder. He even identified Pooja Rani from pictures shown to him. She was also arrested later. The complainant said he also told the name of their neighbour to the Haryana Police as he was aware that his father had sold some land worth lakhs and he might have connived with the suspects to conduct a fake CBI raid at their home. Asi ta sirf Modi to darde Haan, said suspect Pinder Complainant Sarabjit said at one point when he got suspicious that the suspects might be fake CBI officers, he started making videos of them and on this, Pinder Sodhi said: “Make videos or click our photographs, we don’t have any fear.” He said: “Asi ta sirf Modi to darde Haan”(We are afraid of Modi only), afterwards, he again got convinced that they could be CBI officers only. cably. Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Joshi, Civil Judge (Senior Division) Sumit Makkar, CJM Radhika Puri, Judicial Magistrate Nirmala Devi, JMIC Prabha Prashar, Permanent Lok-Adalat Chairman BS Sandhu, Anju Garg, Consumer Forum Commission president Sanjeev Batra headed different Benches with the assistance of Lok Adalat members RD Chabra, Rajneesh Gupta, GS Sodhi and Shweta Dhand, principal, GHG Insititue of Law, Sidhwan Khurd, were present. 3 children go missing from Jiwan Nagar persons and launched a probe in the case. The complainant, Mukesh Kumar, a resident of Jiwan Nagar, told the police that on March 7, his eight-year-old daughter Shivani went missing from their room. Later, when he enquired from the locality, he came to know that four-year-old Radha Kumari and eight-year-old Khisari Miscreants set parked car on fire Girls take a stroll on a sunny day on the PAU campus in Ludhiana. HIMANSHU MAHAJAN Ludhiana, March 9 After the Vigilance Bureau (VB), Ludhiana, busted a gang involved in looting people by posing as Vigilance and CBI officials, their questioning led to disclosures that the gang had also looted a family, dealing in tour and travel business, of Haryana by posing as CBI officials. Five members of the gang have been nabbed by the VB so far. One of them is on the run. The gang had conducted a raid at Pehowa, Haryana, and extorted Rs 52 lakh from the victims last year. The SSP Vigilance Bureau, , Ravinderpal Singh Sandhu, confirmed to The Tribune that during questioning of the suspect, Pinder Sodhi, arrested on February 29, he dis- Ludhiana March 9 In the National Lok Adalat on Saturday, a total of 58,610 cases were disposed of out of the 69,310 cases with the mutual consent of both parties. Awards worth Rs 90,05,50,533 were passed by the Benches. It was presided over by District and Sessions Judge-cum-Chairman District Legal Services Authority Munish Singal. District Legal Services Authority Secretary Raman Sharma said the National Lok Adalat was organised under the guidelines of High Court Judge Justice Gurmeet Singh Sandhewalia. He apprised that 22 Lok Adalat Benches were formed in local courts and seven Benches were formed at the sub-divisional level. He said people showed enthusiasm for the settlement of cases in the Lok Adalat. Explaining the importance am, he informed the City Raikot police this morning. “It was between 2 am and 2.30 am that our neighbours informed me that our car was burning. We tried to douse the flames but the car was completely damaged before the fire could be controlled,” he said, adding that the incident was reported to the police in the morning. Footage of a CCTV camera installed in the area captured one of the miscreants who had smashed the right side window panes of the car and ran after setting the car on fire after throwing some inflammable substance in the vehicle. SHO (City) Gurvinder Singh said the police had initiated a probe into the incident on the basis of inputs provided by the complainant and the footage of CCTV cameras installed in the area. — OC Civil Surgeon comes to the rescueof expectantwoman Ludhiana, March 9 Civil Surgeon (CS) Jasbir Singh Aulakh showing his humanitarian nature made sure that an expectant woman reach hospital and her delivery was done safely on Saturday. The incident occurred when the Civil Surgeon went to Community Health Centre, Pakhowal, for a meeting today. When he was taking round of the centre, a pregnant woman was going through labour in the labour room. Being a gynaecologist, he went to check and found some complications in the case. Since there was no facility of conducting a surgery at the CHC, Pakhowal, he contacted the sub-divisional hospital, Raikot, and it was learnt that an anaesthetist was present Helps her reach hospital in Raikot from CHC, Pakhowal there but a gynaecologist was not there. Then, he asked the gynaecologist from the CHC, Sudhar, to rush to Raikot. Meanwhile, he called 108 ambulance and sent the woman to the Raikot hospital and he also went there. He waited outside the hospital and instructed staff, if need of a gynaecologist arises, they could call him. He left the hospital only when the delivery was done in a safe manner and the woman gave birth to a baby boy. The Civil Surgeon said he was happy that all arrangements were done and delivery was conducted in time. — TNS Lal had also gone missing from the place. The complainant said all three children went somewhere together at 4 pm and did not return. They also searched for them at various places but to no avail. Later, they lodged a police complaint, following which a case of kidnapping was registered by the police on Friday. — TNS LPG leakage leads to fire, two injured Tribune News Service Ludhiana, March 9 Two migrant labourers suffered burn injuries after leakage in a LPG cylinder led to fire in a room at Jassowal village in Hambran village this morning. The duo were preparing tea on the gas stove when the incident occurred. The injured were identified as Naved and Fateh Khan. Fortunately, the fire did not engulf any item kept in the room. The victims’ maternal uncle Mohammad Azad said his nephews Fateh and Naved had come from Uttar Pradesh a few days ago and they used to work in potato fields at Jassowal village on Hambran Road. This morning, when Naved was making tea, the gas pipe came off the stove and the LPG started leaking due to which the fire occurred. Both suffered burn injuries in the incident. Hearing the noise, the owner of the fields also reached the spot who took the injured to the Civil Hospital for treatment. Since the condition of both victims was critical, doctors referred them to another hospital. The conditon of the injured was said to be stable now. Meanwhile, the field owner alleged that both youngsters had consumed cannabis on Friday night and they were seemingly under the influence of the drug due to which they could not fix the gas pipe which came off the stove accidentally.
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