15062024-LT-01.qxd 6/15/2024 12:25 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune FIRE ERUPTS AT CIVIC BODY’S TAJPUR ROAD LANDFILL LOVE IN VIETNAM IS PUNJABI IN FLAVOUR: RAHAT KAZMI TRAILER OF AURON MEIN KAHAN DUM THA UNVEILED Spread over 40 acres, around 20 lakh metric tonne of garbage has been accumulated here. P2 Helmed by a Kashmiri director, the movie is based on Turkish novel Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali. P4 Ajay Devgn and Tabu are back with a new film, Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha, which is set for release on July 5. P4 » » FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY MAX 45°C | MIN 29°C YESTERDAY MAX 44°C | MIN 28°C SUNSET SATURDAY 7.27 PM SUNRISE SUNDAY 5:20 AM » SATURDAY | 15 JUNE 2024 | LUDHIANA MAN DUPED ON MARRIAGE PRETEXT Ludhiana: Ranjit Singh, a resident of Ishar Nagar, has lodged a complaint against two Bulara village residents for duping his son of ~19.4 lakh. The suspects have been identified as Manjot Singh and Jasvir Kaur. A case has been registered under Sections 420, 406, 120-B of the IPC. The complainant said his son Harjit Singh wanted to settle abroad. The suspect promised to get his son married to one Jasvir Kaur and help him settle in Canada. The complainant paid Rs 19.4 lakh to both the suspects for the job. Later, neither my son was sent abroad nor the money returned, he alleged. TNS SNATCHERS HELD, 10 PHONES RECOVERED Ludhiana: The police arrested two youth for snatching mobile phones. As many as 10 mobile phones, two iron sickles and one motorcycle were recovered from his possession. The accused, Sahib Singh and Jasvir Singh, were involved in snatching mobiles. One of them would steer the bike while the other used to grab the phones from his position riding pillion. TNS Amidsearing heat, power cuts irk residents Cafe staffer kills self in Samrala Shivani Bhakoo Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Ludhiana, June 14 Residents in the city faced prolonged power outages and amidst scorching heat. Irked residents approached the area MLA for restoration of power and arranging water tanks as there was no power supply for over 36 hours. The residents of Civil Lines, Ghumar Mandi, near Baba Balak Nath temple, Aarti Chowk, Maya Nagar, Maharaj Nagar, Major Sham Singh Road were a harried lot as there was no power from 9 pm to 12:30 pm while in some other areas, power was not restored till morning. Usha, a domestic help, said the area residents had approached the MLA for help but they were given an answer “Jisko vote daali hai, usko bolo” (Go to those, whom you have voted for power). Later, two-three water tankers were arranged by the MLA, said Usha, a resident in Ghumar Mandi. Shiv Kumar, who resides near Baba Balak Nath Temple, said there was not a single drop of water in my house. “At around 8 pm, a water tanker arrived and we were provided with just two Ludhiana, June 14 A man working at a food cafe in Samrala, Khanna, ended his life by hanging himself at his residence on Thursday late evening. The deceased has been identified as 25-year-old Karan. Preliminary investigation revealed that the deceased used to have fight with his wife due to PHOTOS: ASHWANI DHIMAN INBRIEF Stressed over alleged harassment by wife 25-year-old hangs self from ceiling fan People collect drinking water from a tanker; and (right) a woman along with a youth carries water as many areas of the city were without power for over 36 hours. buckets each. For drinking water, I went to my employer and got bottles filled for my children,” added Kumar, who is a mason. As the generators dried and inverters stopped working, many residents switched on the ACs of their cars to get respite from hot weather. A resident of HIG Flats, wishing not to be quoted, said the members of his family slept in the car after turning on the AC one by one. “Though it sounds funny, we had no oth- er option,” said the resident. due to the power shutdown. Two-fold rise in diesel consumption Residents protest at 12 am Due to the power shutdown, the consumption of diesel was doubled as commercial and domestic establishments were forced to run on generators. Rohit Kumar, an attendant at Azad Fuel Station, said on an average about 10,000 litres of diesel was sold daily at the station but the sales were doubled in the last two days Miffed over power cuts, residents of affected areas protested against the PSPCL and state government. They gathered at Fountain Chowk outside the PSPCL office and raised slogans against the state government. Madhav Kumar, a resident of Civil Lines, said the government had failed to provide the basic amenities. Director Distribution DIS Grewal said 66 kV underground cable feeding PAU grid and Fountain Chowk got damaged yesterday at about 3.30 am. Usually, four number cables are laid in parallel out of which three are used at a time and one is kept spare for emergency use. However, of the four cables, two got damaged, so both the grids could not be charged without repair of at least one cable. Further yesterday the team could not find out the exact location of fault/ where damage had occurred (being underground). “Today, we have traced the exact location of fault at tower in PAU complex. One underground cable has been repaired and now supply has been switched off to hang these cables on towers as a safety measure. It will take about an hour to restore proper supply,” said Grewal who was present with field staff. which he allegedly took the extreme step. Colleagues of his cafe had also tried to achieve a compromise between the deceased and his wife but to no avail. On Thursday, Karan went to his room for lunch break but he did not return. Later, his friends found Karan's body hanging from the fan in the room. The police said Karan's family members were informed and further action would be taken after recording their statement. AITF condemns hike in power tariff ~8.75Lrobbery cracked in 48 hrs, 3 held Ludhiana, June 14 The All-Industries Trade Forum (AITF) has condemned the the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) decision to increase the power tariff by 10-12 paise per unit for domestic consumers and 15 paise per unit for the industrial sector from June 16. Badish Jindal, president AITF said the Punjab State , Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has increased the fixed charges for all the categories of industry by Rs 5 per KVA with an additional tax of 20% on power this will increase to Rs 6 per KVA for all kinds of industries. Jindal said for small industries, it would be Rs 120 per KVA; for medium Rs 145 and for large up to Rs 350. There PSPCL SHOULD FOCUS ON IMPROVING EFFICIENCY The executive committee of the Association of Trade and Industrial Undertakings (ATIU) has condemned the decision of the PSPCL to hike power tariff. Pankaj Sharma, president, ATIU said the PSPCL should work on improving its efficiency and cut transmission losses. The PSPCL is not serious in recovering dues from government departments, whereas if any industrial unit fails to deposit even a small amount for a few days, its electricity connection is cut. will be an increase of Rs 5 on all the categories. Although the consumption charges are subsidised by the government to existing industries @ Rs 5.50 per unit, PSPCL has increased the consumption charges for all categories and it will increase the subsidy bill of the state for industries. “This is against the manifesto promise of Rs 5 power of state government. This will badly impact the industries of Punjab”, rued Jindal. After the declaration of Lok Sabha election results, the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) has released the tariff orders for 2024-25, applicable from June 16 up to March 31, 2025. The PSERC has increased the fixed charges by Rs 5 per KVA for industrial consumers and the unit rates have also been increased by 15 paisa for the industrial sector. Gurmeet Singh Kular, president, FICO, said power is one of the major raw materials for the industry and any increase will impact the cost of production. The government should roll back the hike with immediate effect. Industry reaction The Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertaking (CICU) also condemned power tariff hike. Upkar Singh Ahuja, president, CICU, said though the government has made appreciable efforts to ensure proper supply of power, the tariff hike would adversely hit the industry. Honey Sethi, general secretary, CICU, has requested the government to not only reconsider the price increase but also to focus on improving the quality of power supply as frequent power cuts are also detrimental to the industry. — TNS Ludhiana, June 14 The Khanna police claimed to have cracked the bank robbery case within 48 hours and nabbed three robbers. The police recovered Rs 8.75 lakh cash, a motorcycle and a second-hand Audi car from them. Superintendent Police (Investigation) Saurav Jindal said after the incident of robbery at bank, the Khanna police launched a special drive to nab the robbers. A special team was formed to crack the case leading to the arrest of the accused and recovery of Rs 8.75 lakh cash. SP Jindal said on June 11, the manager of Punjab and Sindh Bank, Bagli Kalan branch, Samrala, informed the police that that unknown persons committed a robbery of Rs 15.92 lakh at gunpoint SP (Investigation) Saurav Jindal addresses a press conference. from their bank. The police teams along with senior police officers led by the Khanna SSP Amneet Kondal had reached the spot and considering seriousness of the incident, an immediate FIR under various sections of IPC and under Arms Act was lodged at Samrala police sta- tion against the three unknown persons. The SP said during investigation, special teams carried out investigation by technical and scientific means and scanned CCTV footage of around 100 km area. After getting clues, a motorcycle used by accused in this inci- dent was spotted and recovered from Ludhiana city. During further investigation, it came to light that after leaving the motorcycle used by the accused in Ludhiana, they bought one second hand Audi car from Jalandhar and escaped. “The Khanna police and AGTF Punjab teams worked on backward and forward linkages and on June 13 arrested the accused persons identified as Amritpal Singh, alias Amrit, of Riar village in Ajnala, Gurmeen Singh, alias Nona, and Jagdish Singh, alias Gulaba, of Sarai village in Ajnala, Amritsar,” the SP said. During the probe, it was revealed that accused are habitual criminals and had robbed three petrol pumps at gunpoint in the past. — TNS To curb crime in industrial areas, 5 spl vehicles flagged off Water samples of 81 polling Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, June 14 Taking a novel initiative to curtail the incidents of snatching and robberies in industrial areas, the Ludhiana police on Friday flagged off five patrolling vehicles, which will be exclusively dedicated to the industrial areas. These vehicles were given by the Public Police Foundation comprising city industrialists to the Ludhiana police for strengthening the patrolling network in crime prone pockets in city. Vehicles were flagged off by the Commissioner of Police Ludhiana Kuldeep Singh Chahal in the presence of esteemed dignitaries from industry including RN Gupta and sons, Kangaroo Staplers, Ralson India Ltd, Avon Cycles, Osho Forging, and Neeraj Satija, senior vice president. Police Public Foundation. Talking to the Tribune, CP Chahal, said, “It was a kind gesture by the Police Public Foundation which provided five patrolling vehicles to the Police Commissioner Kuldeep Singh Chahal flags off police food vans in Ludhiana. ASHWANI DHIMAN Ludhiana police. These vehicles would be mainly deployed in industrial areas like Focal Point where snatchers are targeting the industrial workers snatching cash and other valuables from them. These vehicles will now patrol in the factory areas and would instill sense of security and confidence among the workers”. CP Chahal added that in the coming days, more such vehicles would be deployed in industrial areas so that industrialists and industrial workers can work in safe environment. “I have made a complete plan to strengthen the patrolling in city. Apart from industrial areas, police patrolling is also being strengthened in the entire city. The police will protect every resident living in the jurisdiction of commissionerate and special instructions in this regards have been issued to all the police stations and PCR teams”added CP Chahal. Food vans for cops In a first-of-its-kind initiative c m y b for the cops performing duty in remote or far-off places, the Ludhiana police today flagged off two food vans. These vans will have a live kitchen facility which will be used to prepare a food for the policemen who are deployed at some odd places where they are not having an easy access to food. Police Commissioner Ludhiana Kuldeep Chahal along with the city industrialists flagged off these vehicles at Police Lines here on Friday. “Usually during law and order duties, cops have to spend hours at one place. Many times, access to the food becomes a big issue as they cannot leave their place of duty to get food. In such situations, police food vans would be sent to serve food to the cops. Vans have live kitchen facility which will be used to prepare food. In some situations, food may be prepared at Police Lines kitchens and then will be transported to the places where cops are deployed on law and order duties,” he said. stations fail quality checks Manav Mander Tribune News Service Ludhiana, June 14 In Ludhiana, 60.12 per cent voters turned up to exercise their franchise amid scorching heat. However, the quality of drinking water has raised concerns. A total of 596 water samples were collected from schools located in the urban areas which were turned into polling booths for Parliamentary elections on June 1. Of the total number of samples collected, 81 samples have turned out to be non-potable. The schools include both government and private. Some of the schools of which water samples failed the test were Sahib Public School Gurpal Nagar, Government Primary School Peeru Banda, Holy Heart Senior Secondary School at Punjab Mata Nagar, Government Primary School Madhupuri, MD Bhatt Memorial Public School at Shivaji Students in govt, pvt schools regularly consume this water Nagar, Government High School at Nanak Nagar Salem Tabri, Jain Public Senior Secondary School Benjamin Road, Government High School at Nanak Nagar Salem Tabri, Government Elementary School at Karabara, TM Public School at New Kundanpuri. The failed samples have raised questions about the water facility at the polling stations as many people who came for voting drank water at the polling stations. It has also raised concern about the students who regularly consume this water. Schools are presently closed for summer vacations and will be re-opening on July 1. DC Sakshi Sawhney said instead of drinking water available in school, gulab sharbat and water from tankers was used at the polling station. “Schools had got the water tanks cleaned a month ago on our orders. Certificates were also taken. The schools where samples are not satisfactory have been asked to take remedial measures immediately. The water sampling would be conducted again for these schools after a short period,” said the DC. Municipal Commissioner Sandeep Rishi said the water supplied from the tubewells is clean and chlorination is also done regularly. “Schools should get their water tanks cleaned before the re-opening of the schools,” he said.
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