01062024-ATR-01.qxd 6/1/2024 1:12 AM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FRONT BURNS BJP GOVT'S EFFIGY, DEMANDS OLD PENSION SCHEME VAIBHAV SAYS HE MIGHT BECOME POET OR CHEF 10 YEARS DOWN THE LINE As Gullak Season 4 rolls out on Sony LIV, actor Vaibhav Raj Gupta says, “There is a strong connect with the audience.” P4 The Old Pension Restoration Front burnt an effigy of the BJP govt, which opposed restoration of the old pension scheme.P2 » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY AYUSHMANN KHURRANA GETS READY TO CAST HIS VOTE IN HOMETOWN Chandigarh’s very own munda Ayushmann Khurrana may have become a Bollywood star, but his love for the city is abiding. P4 » MAX 45°C | MIN 27°C YESTERDAY MAX 45°C | MIN 27°C SUNSET SATURDAY 7.30 PM SUNRISE SUNDAY 5:25 AM SATURDAY | 1 JUNE 2024 | AMRITSAR Youth dies of drug overdose, friends booked Amritsar, May 31 A 22-year-old youth identified as Khushpreet Singh, a resident of Muktsar Sahib, allegedly died of drug overdose here yesterday. On the complaint of his family, the police have booked two of his friends on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Those booked were identified as Raman Singh of Gidderbaha, Muktsar Sahib, and his unknown accomplice. Khushpreet along with his friends had come to Amritsar to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple on May 25. Gurbhej Singh, father of the deceased, told the police that his son along with his friends, including Raman Kumar, had come to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple. He said on Wednesday, Raman told them over phone that Khushpreet had met with an accident and taken to the Civil Hospital. He said by the time they reached hospital, doctors had declared Khushpreet dead while his friends were missing from there. Doctors attending on Khushpreet said he died of drug overdose. ASI Sukhdev Singh said a case was registered against suspects and raids were on to nab them. — TNS Polling to be held from Elaborate security arrangements in place as 994 polling stations critical 7 am to 6 pm in district INDIA VOTES Over20Kstaffonpolldutyat2,134pollingbooths Officials carry EVMs and other election-related material to polling booths in Amritsar on Friday. employees, including Asha workers and volunteers, had been deployed at polling booths. He said arrangements had been made to provide umbrellas and other articles to voters. He said medical teams had also been deployed to deal with any emergency keeping in view the prevailing hot weather conditions. He said 13 companies had been deployed to maintain law and order in the rural areas and 12 in the urban Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 31 District election authorities today dispatched over 20,000 employees to 2,134 polling booths for conducting the Lok Sabha elections tomorrow. The polling would be held from 7 am to 6 pm. The administration has made complete arrangements to conduct the elections peacefully. District Election Officer Ghanshyam Thori said areas. He said a webcasting control room had been set up to keep surveillance through CCTV cameras on 2,134 booths. He said 11 pink booths manned by female staff had been set up in the district. Besides, a super model polling booth number 190, 191 and 192 had been set up at Bhavans SL Public School in Amritsar North constituency where all kinds of facilities would be provided to voters. 2024 Amritsar, May 31 The Punjab Police have geared up for conducting elections for the 18th Lok Sabha slated to be held on Saturday. The police teams, along with polling staff, have been dispatched from the EVM distribution centres to respective polling stations. As per record of the district administration, 994 polling stations out of 2,126 in 11 Assembly constituencies of the district are critical. Nine Assembly constituencies — Amritsar East, Amritsar West, Amritsar North, Amritsar South, Amritsar Central, Attari, Ajnala, Rajasansi and Majitha — come under Amritsar Lok Sabha segment while Baba Bakala and Jandiala Guru fall under Khadoor Sabha Lok Sabha constituency. Paramilitary forces have been deputy for security at critical polling stations, along with the Punjab Police, to Couple assaulted, Ban on smoking at polling booths 6-year-old Delhi boy drowns in hotel pool robbed near top cop’s residence FICCI FLO Amritsar launches no-tobacco initiative in city Amritsar, May 31 boy, Advik A six-year-old Amritsar, May 31 A couple was assaulted and robbed by two miscreants in front of the Police Commissioner’s residence in the Mall road area here. The incident occurred on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday when the victims were returning home after attending a function in the Putlighar area. The victim, identified as Pankaj Vohra, sustained grievous injuries on his right hand. On the complaint of victim’s wife Sonia Vohra, the police registered a case and arrested the suspects. Sonia told the police that she and her husband were returning home when two scooterborne persons attacked them. She said the suspects snatched three gold rings, a diamond ring and Rs 16,000 in cash from them. Those arrested were identified as Joshi Singh and Sunny Singh of Harijan Colony in Patti. — TNS Amritsar, May 31 On World No Tobacco Day, District Election Officer-cumDeputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori said according to the instructions of the Chief Election Commission, all polling booths in the state had been declared tobacco-free in view of the Lok Sabha elections. He said there would be a strict ban on smoking cigarettes, beedis and consuming other tobacco products at all polling booths. Thori said presiding officers of each polling booth had been appointed as the nodal officer to ensure that the ban on the consumption of tobacco products was implemented properly at polling stations. He said the purpose of declaring polling booths as tobacco-free zones was to protect non-smokers from exposure to smoke and encourage people to maintain good health. He said this initiative was in line with the extensive public health campaigns and Activists burn cigarette packets during a demonstration in Amritsar. an endeavour to reduce the use of tobacco and control diseases caused by its consumption like cancer, heart and chronic lung ailments and blindness. Meanwhile, FICCI FLO Amritsar, under the chairmanship of Dr Simarpreet Sandhu, has joined hands with Voice of Tobacco Victims (VoTV) to address the pressing issue of tobacco industry interference, particularly targeting children and youth. “The two organisations have joined hands to protect children from the insidious influence of the tobacco industry, which often employs tactics to make smoking seem glamorous, leading to addiction and disease,” said Dr Simarpreet Sandhu. “Parents, educators, health professionals and policymakers must work together to keep children away from tobacco,” said Sanjay Seth, chief of operations, VoTV — TNS . Katiyal from Delhi, drowned in a swimming pool of a reputed hotel inside the Hall Gate area here on Wednesday evening. The police have registered a case against the hotel management on charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The police said investigation was in progress to find out how boy reached swimming pool and drowned, besides ascertaining negligence on part of the hotel authorities. Boy’s mother Shivali Katiyal said she and her family had come to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple. They checked in at the hotel and went to their room to take rest. Her son somehow reached swimming pool, she said. When Shivalidid not find her son, she looked for him all around. When she wnt near the swimming pool, she found that her son had drowned. The boy was rushed to a hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. — TNS Lok Sabha polls: Amritsar to witness four-corner contest GS Paul Tribune News Service TOTAL VOTERS 16,08,795 Amritsar, May 31 The political landscape in the city for the Lok Sabha elections seems to have narrowed down. While four key candidates are battling to hold a sway over votes, the Congress seems to have an edge as other parties follow closely. Amritsar Lok Sabha seat has been a Congress bastion. This time, the Congress has fielded its undefeated Member of Parliament Gurjeet Singh Aujla for the third term. Banking on his performance and credibility, Aujla aims to strike a hattrick after winning the 2017 bypolls and 2019 general polls with convincing margins of 2 lakh and 1 lakh votes, respectively. The arrival of Congress’ star campaigners, including former AICC president and MP Rahul Gandhi, present ■ Males: 8,44,208 ■ ■ Females: 7,64,524 ■ ■ Transgenders: 63 ■ AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge and MP Shashi Tharoor, has given an impetus to Aujla’s campaigning. While addressing a rally in Amritsar on May 25, Rahul had assured to waive farmers’ loans, and guaranteed MSP and crop insurance schemes for them if voted to power. Later, Aujla, for a change, also assured to take up the release of Bandi Singhs (Sikh political prisoners), which usually was raked up by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) prominently. On the other hand, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which already has seven of the total nine Assembly seats of Amritsar in its pocket has PARTIES’ VOTE SHARE 2014 elections: Congress 47.94%, SAD-BJP% 37.74, AAP 8.2 % 2017 (bypoll): Congress 50.09%, SAD-BJP 30.45%; AAP 14.78% 2019 elections: Congress 51.78%, SAD-BJP 40.19%, AAP: 2.34 % shown faith in its minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal. The AAP which earlier was , considered as a small fry keeping in view the miniscule vote percentage in 2019 Lok Sabha, now holds the reins in the state, putting its candidate in a somewhat comfortable position. AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and CM Bhagwant Mann conducted roadshows in Amritsar giving a further push to Dhaliwal’s poll campaign. Experts opine that the AAP’s promise to provide free power and improve the education and health sector infrastructure may go in its favour. With the SAD and the BJP failing to restitch the alliance, it would be a litmus test for both the parties to contest solo. Interestingly, the “panthic party” SAD has put its bet on a Hindu face Anil Joshi, the BJP turncoat and the saffron party fielded former diplomat Taranjit Singh Sandhu. The disadvantage of both the SAD and the BJP is that while in alliance, both had their separate cadre and vote bank in the rural and urban constituencies, respectively. Both the parties seldom made efforts to establish their base in an individual capacity in the rural and urban areas. Together, they could have c m y b hit the target, but post-split, their votes would divide. Nonetheless, Joshi is banking on “works” done during his tenure as Local Bodies Minister while Sandhu comes up with a development agenda to put Amritsar on the global map citing his “international” connections. To counter the “outsider tag”, he also added “Samundri” as “political suffix” to his name to identify his panthic family ties. His grandfather Teja Singh Samundri, a founder SGPC member, had played a vital role in the Gurdwara Reform Movement, a conflict with the Colonial regime. The SGPC, recognising his services to the panth, named its headquarters as Teja Singh Samundri Hall. However, Sandhu faced heat in the rural constituencies owing to the ongoing farm agitation against the BJP candidates. Security personnel deployed on election duty in Amritsar on Friday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR thwart any untoward incident. “We have made elaborate arrangements for conducting free, fair and peaceful elections in the five Assembly constituencies that fall in the jurisdiction of the city police commissionerate,” said Police Commissioner (CP) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar. He said the security in every constituency would be supervised by Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP) rank official who would be guided by three Deputy Commissioners of Police. Thereafter, ACP rank officials were deputed in the areas as per the sensitivity. “In consultation with the district administration, the city has been divided into 81 sectors. Patrolling parties have been deputed to patrol in these sectors regularly. These teams would be first to respond in case of any emergency situation. Besides, 10 “striking reserve” teams have been constituted. These would be headed by an inspector rank official along with 10 armed cops,” the CP said. Similarly, Amritsar (Rural) has over 700 critical polling stations. SSP Satinder Singh said the rural police received 13 paramilitary companies which were deployed along with the Punjab Police personnel. Rakesh Kaushal, DIG, border range, said foolproof arrangements had been made to thwart any misadventure during the elections in the four police districts falling under Amritsar border range that included Gurdaspur, Batala, Pathankot and Amritsar (Rural). He said 8,000 police personnel, along with paramilitary force, had been deployed for providing security. — TNS Aujla spent ~58.41L on poll campaign Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 31 With the district administration keeping a close vigil on the election expenditure, no candidate in Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency has crossed the limit of Rs 95 lakh. Congress candidate Gurjeet Aujla spent the highest amount of Rs 58.41 lakh in the constituency on poll campaign. However, as per the candidate expenditure register, Aujla spent only Rs 33.22 lakh with a difference of Rs 25.19 lakh in the shadow register maintained by poll observers. Aam Aadmi Party candidate Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal spent Rs 57.95 lakh. Meanwhile, SAD candidate Anil Joshi spent Rs 57.83 lakh while BJP candidate Taranjit Singh Sandhu spent Rs 50.88 lakh on the poll campaign. However, there is major difference in the candidate and shadow register estimates. Incidentally, Imaan Singh Mann of SAD (Amritsar) spent Rs 5 lakh on campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections.