31052024-ATR-01.qxd 5/31/2024 12:47 AM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune ‘MODEL VILLAGE’ MUDHAL EXPOSES PRE-ELECTION CLAIMS OF POLITICIANS During poll campaigns, political leaders make countless promises to transform lives and develop world-class infrastructure.P2 » ON WORLD NO TOBACCO DAY, CELEBS SAY MAKE SMOKING ILLEGAL World No Tobacco Day, celebrated each year on May 31, raises awareness about the illeffects of tobacco & diseases it causes.P4 » FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR KHELA, A CHANDIGARH-BASED THEATRE GROUP, TO ORGANISE 3-DAY FESTIVAL Khela, a Chandigarh-based theatre group, to organise a three-day theatre festival at the mini-auditorium, Tagore theatre. P4 » MAX 45°C | MIN 26°C YESTERDAY MAX 45°C | MIN 28°C SUNSET FRIDAY 7.30 PM SUNRISE SATURDAY 5:25 AM FRIDAY | 31 MAY 2024 | AMRITSAR Landa demands ~1 crore ransom from merchant INDIA bloc an alliance to protect ‘parivar’ ‘bhrashtachar’: Nadda , Our Correspondent Tribune News Service Tarn Taran, May 30 Gangster Lakhbir Singh Landa, who runs his module from abroad, has demanded Rs 1 crore ransom from a merchant who runs a grocery store. The merchant, identified as Kulwant Singh, a resident of Tur village, informed the Goindwal Sahib police that he received a WhatsApp call on Tuesday in which the caller introduced himself as Lakhbir Singh Landa. He demanded Rs 1 crore ransom and warned that in case Kulwant failed to pay money, he (Landa) would harm his family members. On Kulwant’s statement, ASI Lakhwinder Singh, Fatehbad police post incharge, registered a case under Section 387 of the IPC in this connection. Earlier too, Landa had demanded ransom from Kulwant. Harike is the native village of Lakhbir Singh Landa. He often calls well-off people from the business community, creates terror and demands huge ransom from them. Some of the victims, who paid huge amount to Landa, have migrated from here to safer places. Amritsar, May 30 INDIA bloc is an alliance to protect “parivar” and “bhrashtachar” said JP Nadda, BJP national president, while addressing a rally in support of party candidate Taranjit Singh Sandhu here on Thursday. “Most of its leaders are either on bail or in jail,” he said. “There is not even one leader in this bloc who does not have its name involved in any scam,” Nadda said, while adding that all parties which were part of the bloc promoted “parivarwad”. He said if Sandhu was elected from Amritsar, the holy city would become the most beautiful city of Punjab. Speaking on the occasion, Sandhu said Narendra Modi and JP Nadda were worldlevel leaders. He said if any country in the world faces problem, its leaders first called Modi for help. Even American President salutes Modi, he said. “I have been sent home by Modi and Nadda. Now, I would not go anywhere and serve my people here,” Sandhu said, while adding that Amritsar (Clockwise from top) Congress candidate Gurjeet Singh Aujla and former Deputy CM OP Soni in a roadshow; BJP candidate Taranjit Singh Sandhu campaigns door-to-door; AAP candidate Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal in a roadshow; and SAD candidate Anil Joshi campaigns in Amritsar. TRIBUNE PHOTOS Candidates make last-ditch efforts as campaigning ends PK Jaiswar Tribune News Service Jagat Prakash Nadda addressed a public rally in the Ranjit Avenue area in favour of party candidate and former Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu. Addressing the public rally Nadda asked people to vote for Sandhu for the overall development of the holy city. “If you elect Sandhu from Amritsar, the city would become one of the most developed cities in Punjab,” he said. Later, senior BJP leader RP Singh also addressed the rally. Aujla along with former Deputy Chief Minister Om Parkash Soni, former MLAs Raj Kumar Verka and Sunil Datti and other leaders held a roadshow in blistering hot conditions in the walled city area in the afternoon. The roadshow commenced from Hall Gate and ended at the Town Hall. He also paid tribute at the historic Jallianwala Bagh memorial. Later, Aujla held a meeting with students and encouraged them to vote for a change in the country. He said in order to end the reign of corporate houses in the country, people should defeat the BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said during 10 years rule, around 20 per cent people owning big corporate houses had accumulated 80 per cent wealth of the country. AAP minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal also held roadshow in the rural belt of the district. The roadshow started from Majitha and passed through Ajnala, Rajasansi, Chogwan, Attari and Khasa before culmination. He said the people of Amritsar should vote for the AAP for development of the holy city. SAD candidate Anil Joshi also held public meetings during which he urged people to vote for him. In all, 30 aspirants, including 18 Independents, are in the fray from Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency. Over 16.11 lakh voters would seal the fate of 30 candidates on June 1 by exercising their right to franchise in nine Assembly constituencies falling in the Amritsar Lok Sabha segment. Out of these voters, over 8.44 lakh are males, 7.64 lakh females and 64 transgender. The counting of votes would held on June 4. Phagwara,May 30 The police arrested two vehicle thieves and recovered a stolen motorcycle bearing registration number PB-08CW-5974 from their possession on Wednesday night. The suspects, identified as Aman and Raman, residents of Satnampura, were nabbed at a checkpoint while they were riding on the stolen bike. The police have registered a case against the suspects under Section 379 of the IPC. — OC Amritsar, May 30 As campaigning for the last leg of parliamentary polls in country ended here today, candidates made last-ditch efforts to woo voters to exercise their franchise in their favour. Incumbent Gurjeet Singh Aujla is locked in a tough contest with former Indian Ambassador Taranjit Singh of the BJP Punjab Minister , Kuldeep Dhaliwal and former Cabinet Minister Anil Joshi from the SAD. Punjab would go to polls on June 1. All main political parties today held public rallies and roadshows, besides public meetings to conclude their campaigning. BJP national president Drone, 550 gm heroin recovered in border village Political leaders have neither will nor interest in addressing green concerns: Pingalwara chief Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 30 Green manifestoes released by the All India Pingalwara Charitable Society along with other like-minded organisations have failed to evince any response from candidates of different political parties. The society had raised questions regarding various environment-related issues and asked candidates to reveal their plans to address them. Dr Inderjit Kaur, president, All India Pingalwara Charitable Society, rued that political leaders neither had the will nor interest to contribute towards environmental causes. The global warming, fre- 2 bike thieves in police net Amritsar, May 30 The Border Security Force (BSF) recovered a drone carrying narcotics here on Thursday. The seizure was made at Roranwala Khurd border village in the Attari subdivision. A BSF spokesman said on inputs from the intelligence wing regarding smuggling of narcotics with the help of a drone, the BSF personnel carried out a search operation in the suspected area located on the outskirts of the Roranwala Khurd village. They Continued on page 2 All India Pingalwara Charitable Society president Dr Inderjit Kaur (centre) addresses the media in Amritsar. PHOTO: SUNIL KUMAR quent cloud bursts and floods were being reported in different parts of the country, but no politician seemed to care about this, she said. Meanwhile, the society has decided to celebrate 120th birth anniversary of its founder Bhagat Puran Singh in a unique way. Its members would sit outside railway station to relive the conditions when Bhagat Puran Singh used to do sewa in the scorching heat. “After the Partition, Bhagat Puran Singh ji started sewa for the destitute and mentally challenged people who came from Pakistan and had no one to care for them. Those were the hot summer days when he used to sit outside railway station waiting for the people who needed help,” she said. She said the society had planned several programmes for two days commencing from June 3. She said the society had set up a biogas plant at the cost of Rs 15 lakh at its Manawala complex which would be inaugurated on June 3. — TNS No point in voting for party with uncertain future: BJP spokesperson Manmeet Singh Gill Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 30 “Remember what Rahul Gandhi had said? He had said India is a union of states. And the same thing is being said by Amritpal Singh. There are many in Pakistan who want Rahul Gandhi to become the Prime Minister,” said RP Singh, national Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson while addressing a press conference here today. Singh was replying to a query regarding Amritpal Singh, chief of Waris Punjab De organisation, who is contesting as an Independent candidate from Khadoor Sahib constituency. Singh said, “There are many in Pakistan who chant the slogan of Arvind Kejriwal Zindabad. Interestingly, the very first article of the Indian Constitution reads, India, that is Bharat, shall be a union of states.” Though Singh did not mention the context in which he had made this statement, he made it sound like calling India, a union of states was sort of “anti-national”. The BJP leader claimed that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) might end up losing its recognition from the Election Commission of India as a case against the party had been registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). “There is no point in giving vote to a party which has an uncertain future,” he said. He said, “AAP leaders are saying one thing in Punjab and another as soon as they cross the state borders because they are in alliance with the Congress.” Answering another query regarding the release of Bandi Singhs, RP Singh c m y b said, “If only they ask for forgiveness in writing, the Central Government can consider it.” This contradicts RP Singh’s statement because Home Minister Amit Shah had recently stated that Bandi Singhs cannot be forgiven considering the fact that six of the nine Sikh prisoners were convicts in former Chief Minister Beant Singh assassination case. BJP national president JP Nadda (centre) campaigns for party candidate Taranjit Singh Sandhu and Khadoor Sahib candidate Manjit Singh Manna (left) in Amritsar on Thursday. VISHAL KUMAR had already suffered much due to fault in its leaders. “All kutcha roofs of houses in the constituency would be replaced with RCC roofs within 100 days of the formation of the BJP government,” he said. He said, “The Congress has always betrayed Scheduled Castes. The poor people can only flourish in Modi’s rule.” Meanwhile, farmers associated with various kisan unions gathered to protest during Nadda’s rally. Only 50 farmers had gathered at Amrit Anand DC office sends notice for absence from poll duty to dead employee Issue highlighted by RTI activist resolved Amritsar, May 30 In an anomaly, a former employee of the municipal corporation (MC), who worked as a tubewell operator and had passed away four years ago, was sent a summon by the office of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) for not appearing for the election duty at a rehearsal held recently. The family members of deceased Vimal Raj, who received the notice from the DC office at their residence, were confused as to why the notice was sent in the first place. The notice was issued on May 26. In another incident, a retired employee Sukhjinder Kaur, who used to work as supervisor in the Department of Social Security and Women and Child Development, was also sent a notice of absence from the poll duty. These notices were issued on behalf of the DC office to all those employees, who were found absent from their poll duties, without giving any reason. The list of these absent employees and the report on the recommended action is prepared by Assistant Return- ing Officers (AROs). In this case, the AROs concerned were clueless regarding mistake in the data provided to them by the MC. The glitch was highlighted by an RTI activist Prashant Chauhan, who also uploaded the matter on a social media post of Voice of Amritsar, an NGO. He claimed that this was not an isolated incident. Meanwhile, Assistant Commissioner (UT) Sonam, while addressing the matter, shared that the Central Electoral Office had assigned the responsibility of listing and notifying poll duties to government employees to the AROs in each constituency. “The data of employees working in specific government departments is shared with us by officials of the department concerned. The AROs have been taking up the matter of assigning poll duties and issuing notices to ones, who are absent. The DC office has no direct dealing in this case. However, the matter of sending notices to employees, who have passed away, has been resolved by updating the data,” she said. — TNS Park in Ranjit Avenue. Owing to their short strength, they dropped their idea to protest at the rally venue. Another group of farmers, however, managed to get within 100 metres of the rally venue, but was stopped by the police. Farmers’ leaders Rattan Singh Randhawa, Dr Satnam Singh Ajnala and Jatinder Singh Chinna, who led this group, raised slogans against the BJP and accused it of favouring corporate houses at the cost of agrarian society and the poor people. Two day ban on liquor sale in Tarn Taran Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, May 30 The district administration has announced restrictions in view of the Lok Sabha elections. District Magistrate Sandeep Kumar informed here today that from 6 pm on May 30 till the end of polling process on June 1, and the day of counting on June 4, a dry day has been declared. As a result, all wine shops and other establishments like clubs and restaurants which have got the licence to serve wine would remain closed. The District Magistrate ordered outsiders, who have not registered as voters in the area, to leave before 6 pm on May 30. After 6 pm on Thursday, restrictions have been imposed on a gathering of five or more persons at a place for a rally or meeting. There was no restriction on seeking votes through doorto-door canvassing. The administration has imposed restrictions on a gathering of five or more persons in a radius of 100 metre on the day of polling around polling stations and on June 4, in a radius of 100 metre, around counting centres. Four Pakistani intruders cross over into Indian territory, handed over to Rangers Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 30 BSF troops apprehended four Pakistani intruders who inadvertently crossed over into Indian territory here yesterday. As a goodwill gesture, they were handed over to the Pakistan Rangers after confirmation of their identities and following the laid down procedures. According to BSF authorities, three Pak nationals entered India through Tarn Taran while another was held Pak nationals, who inadvertently crossed over to Indian territory, in Tarn Taran were handed over to Pakistan Rangers on Thursday. from Singhoke village in Amritsar. A BSF spokesman said yesterday, around 12 pm, three Pakistani youths were arrested ahead of border fence near Kalash village in Tarn Taran. Continued on page 2