18072024-ATR-01.qxd 7/17/2024 11:11 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune RAISE LEGAL GUARANTEE FOR MSP IN PARL, FARMERS TELL AUJLA FARMERS ALLEGE POOR WATER MANAGEMENT Irked over reduced supply in Mehrajpur Minor, residents of Sito Gunno and Mehrana villages hold protest. P3 PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 37°C | MIN 29°C YESTERDAY MAX 37°C | MIN 30°C VICKY KAUSHAL, TRIPTII DIMRI PROMOTE THEIR FILM Farmers under the banner of SKM submit memorandum, want Swaminathanreport implemented. P2 FORECAST Dressed in ethnic Punjabi attire, the Bad Newz star cast took Chandigarh by storm. P4 » » SUNSET THURSDAY 7.35 PM SUNRISE FRIDAY 5:38 AM » THURSDAY | 18 JULY 2024 | AMRITSAR Police bust cross-border drugs, arms smuggling module; 2 held 2.4kg heroin seized Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 17 Busting yet another cross-border drug and weapon module, the CIA staff of Amritsar rural police have arrested two drug traffickers and seized 7kg heroin, four 9mm Glock pistols and one .32 bore pistol along with five bullets and a car from their possession. The suspects have been identified as Gurmukh Singh of Bhura Kona village and Jagwant singh of Mehidipur village in Khemkaran area in Tarn Taran district. The police also impounded a Swift Dzire car (PB 38 D 1759) in which they were travelling. DGP Gaurav Yadav said the Amritsar rural police got a tip off about two smugglers travelling in a car going to deliver a weapon consignment in Rajatal boarder village area. Following it, the CIA staff of Amritsar Rural police set up a naka near Muhawa border village falling under the Gharinda police station jurisdiction and arrested the sus- The accused in police custody. TRIBUNE PHOTO pects with five pistols and ammunition, which were smuggled from Pakistan. During preliminary interrogation, the duo disclosed that they had also retrieved contraband along with along with weapons. They had concealed it near their house. Following their disclosure, the police teams conducted a raid at a location pinpointed by the accused and recovered 7kg heroin. The suspects were in touch with Pakistan-based smugglers and supplying consignments of weapons and drugs across the state after smuggling it from Pakistan using drones. SSP (Amritsar Rural) Satinder Singh said the probe was on establish their backward and forward linkages and identify the Pakistan-based smuggler. The police teams would also initiate the procedure to forfeit the illegally acquired property of the arrested smugglers under Section 68F of the NDPS Act, he added. A fresh case under Section 25 of the Arms Act and Sections 21, 25 and 29 of the NDPS Act has been registered. Amritsar, July 17 With the arrest of four persons in three separate incidents, the Amritsar city police today claimed to have busted a cross-border narcotic smuggling network and confiscated 2.4kg contraband from their possession. Those arrested have been identified as Tejbir Singh and Rajinder Singh, both residents of Burj Rai Ke village in Patti subdivision in Tarn Taran, Ajay Singh and Pargat Singh, both residents of Mode village. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR Amritsar, July 17 A day after the news highlighting the unauthorised entrance at Government Medical College here allegedly being used by touts and agents to sneak inside the premises to fleece poor patients was published in these columns, the hospital management closed it with a brick wall with help from the police. High drama prevailed at the site as a group of shopkeepers claimed that the matter is in court and accused the hospital management of high-handedness. The shopkeepers alleged that the gate is being closed to benefit the chemists who have their shops near the main entrance of the hospital. Balwinder Kaur, a protester, said the gate was opened when Anil Joshi was the Minister for Medical Education and Research. She said the hospital management wants Says no provision for any such gate in master plan The unauthorised entrance being sealed at GMC using bricks. to close the gate as it was meant to benefit other shops. She said that closing of the gate would be against the interests of the chemists who have their shops near this ‘unauthorised’ gate. Meanwhile, Medical Superintendent of Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, Dr Karanjit Singh said, “There is no provision of a gate at the place as per the master plan of GMC and GNDH.” He said that some people had broken the wall on last Tuesday and installed a gate. He said that it was removed afterwards and now it has been permanently closed. Dr Karanjit Singh said that the gate was closed earlier too on the recommendations of Vidhan Sabha’s Assurance Committee when people had complained of touts and agents using it to take out patients after luring them. “The patients are free to buy medicines from any shop and the hospital management is not concerned. Moreover, nearly 80 per cent of the required medicines are given free from cost from the hospital itself,” he said. Sub-inspector Harmanjit Singh who arrived along with a police team said that they had received a complaint from the hospital management. He said that the gate has now been closed and shopkeepers have been warned against taking law into their hands. Not clear if they were trying to escape or fell in darkness PK Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 17 Two girls from Thailand allegedly jumped from the fifth floor of an illegal spa centre being run in a hotel to the third floor of a nearby building during a police raid at the spa centre last night. The girls suffered multiple fractures and were currently under treatment at a hospital. The hotel is located near the interstate bus terminus. Besides the two injured, the police arrested three other Thai girls from the spot. According to the police, the hotel owners and spa centre manager were allegedly running a prostitution racket in the garb of a spa centre. “We have registered a case under Sections 3, 4 and 5 of Immoral Trafficking Act besides Section 14 of the Foreigners Act against the Thai girls, manager of the spa centre Simran, besides owners Manish, Ajay, Sajan and Jagdeep,” informed Gurinderbir Singh Sidhu, Assistant Commissioner of Police (East). SUFFER MULTIPLE FRACTURES ■ The injured girls suffered multiple fractures and were currently under treatment at a hospital. ■ The hotel is located near the interstate bus terminus. Besides the two injured, the police arrested three other Thai girls from the spot. ■ According to the police, the hotel owners and spa centre manager were allegedly running a prostitution racket in the garb of a spa centre. Initially, the police remained tight-lipped when the incident took place at around 9.30 pm. A video of the incident in which the two girls were being taken to an ambulance on stretchers was captured by a local resident which was circulated on the social media. The police team was headed by Baljinder Singh, SHO, Ram Bagh police station here. It is not yet clear when the two girls jumped from the fifth floor or they accidentally fell due to darkness. They fell from the fifth floor to the third floor of a nearby building while three other Thai girls were arrested from the spa centre, the police said. According to the ACP (East), four of the Thailand girls were in the country on a one-year tourist visa while the credentials of one of the girls admitted to the hospital was yet to be ascertained. He said the entry of normal customers was restricted on the fifth floor of the hotel and only special customers were allowed there. The police have arrested the manager of the centre, Simran, besides three girls from Thailand while raids were on to nab the remaining suspects. Only yesterday, the Rambagh police had raided two spa centres in Celebration Mall following a tip-off that prostitution rackets were being run in the guise of spa centres. The police arrested 10 persons including the girls from there and registered a case in this regard. Server glitches, delay in Form-16 infuriate income tax payers in city Cops nab man who threatened Shwait Malik customer care’. Accentuating their trouble was the inconsistent functioning of the server. They stated that the functioning of the server has been erratic since July 3. There were times when they did not function for hours on several days. They were unable to generate challans and tax deposits were not reflected. Moreover, their clients did not receive the OTP as it was not generated at all. The UIDAI server suffered glitches so frequently that taxpayers did not get OTPs. For instance, on July 15, they were unable to download even an acknowledgement. When approached, Income Tax Officer Mira Nagpal stated that there has been some disruption in the online filing of income tax returns. The problem was duly brought to the notice of the higher authorities. She added that the server was now functioning without interruptions. Amritsar, July 17 The police have arrested a resident of the Batala road area who allegedly made threat call to former Rajya Sabha member Shwait Malik. The suspect has been identified as Rajan. Malik in a press conference held recently had alleged that he got threats on July 3. He had submitted the call recordings to the police for further action. He had blamed the AAP government for its failure to maintain law and order in the state. He also accused the police of being lax in tracing the culprits. Malik had claimed that on July 3 at around 11.30 pm, he got a call from a person, who identified himself as Gaurav. Gaurav stated that he has an audio recording of a gangster named Ranjit. In that particular recording, the gangster is heard saying that he will shoot Shwait Malik and kill him. Gaurav sent the recording to Malik. — TNS Police officials hold a press conference in Amritsar. TRIBUNE PHOTO GMC mgmt closes unauthorised gate Tribune News Service Police Commissioner Ranjit Singh Dhillon said Tejbir Singh was arrested with 1.47kg of heroin while Ajay Singh and Pargat Singh were nabbed with 950gms of heroin and a motorcycle. The police have registered two separate FIRs under NDPS Act against them at Chheharta and Airport police station here. In the third case, Rajinder Singh was held with a .32 bore pistol along with two live cartridges, around 60gm of heroin and a car. — TNS Cops raid illegal spa centre, 2 Thai girls jump from 5th floor Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 17 Online income tax payers are irked over delay in the arrival of Form-16 and frequent server glitches which prevents them from filing their returns timely. The majority of the taxpayers, tax return preparers and chartered accountants stated that most of their clients received Form-16 only in the first week of this month. Earlier, they used to receive it in June. There was consensus among them over the reason for this delay — General Election. They said that most government employees were engaged in Lok Sabha election related duties. This led to a delay in release of Form-16 this year, they pointed out. Sahil Dhawan, a chartered accountant, said an assessee should get the Form-16 before June 15 but it did not happen this time. There were several Poll-related duties of govt officials led to delay, officials say problems sorted out. FILE glitches in the website run by the Income Tax Department used to file annual returns. Downloading the Annual Information Statement (AIS) and Taxpayers Information Summary (TIS) took a very long time and some information related to shares and interest came incorrect. While uploading the return, various errors cropped up and assessees were unable to upload the return. Often the standard reply was ‘System error, please contact Attack on ‘Hindu’ leader: Teen musician makes kids dance on her tunes Holding laser shows near 3 including shooter held Creates music rooms in schools for underprivileged students, helps raise funds city airport to invite action Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 17 Days after the murderous attack on a Hindu leader, the police today claimed to have arrested three suspects, including the shooter, in the case. The police said it was a matter of personal enmity while several persons tried to give it a communal colour. Among those arrested included Gurpreet Singh, alias Gopi, the shooter, Lovepreet Singh, and Arshpreet Singh, all residents of Guruwali area. The incident occurred on July 10 night when the victim Parveen Kumar was at his erickshaw agency on Majitha Road. Two armed assailants had entered his agency and fired bullets at him. A bullet grazed through his shoulder. Abhimayu Rana, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, said as per investigation, Parveen used to finance money to the people. He had loaned some money to a man who failed to return the same. He went to his house and allegedly slapped his sister. Perturbed over this, her USbased brother, Himmat Singh, decided to teach him a lesson. He hired some persons and planned to shoot him. “Gurpreet was the main shooter while two of his accomplices who had provided him weapons, were yet to be arrested. Lovepreet and Arshpreet had given them logistic support and shelter,” he said. “Raids were on to nab their accomplices,” he added. Amritsar, July 17 For Diya Bubber (16), a student of Woodstock School, Mussoorie, music is a way to build a community, which is inclusive, immersive and learns through music. Diya, a budding musician, has launched her community building project, Mission Music. Through Mission Music, she has been creating music rooms in schools for underprivileged students and helped raise funds to contribute musical instruments at Schools of Eminence, Chheharta, and Mall Road. “Music is close to my heart and so is this project. My primary goal was to create music rooms in schools, especially for underprivileged students and providing them access to creative avenues Diya Bubber donates musical instruments to SOE, Chheharta. and opportunity to learn and create music. I believe that music is so much more than a medium of expression; it is a learning tool and a immersive experience that hones our skills and abilities. Also, it has now become a medium to positively impact so many students’ lives,” the Amrit- c m y b sar resident said. Under Mission Music, Diya conducts masterclasses at various schools, for students of classes VI to VIII and has raised funds through donations and live performances to create music rooms in SoE, Mall Road, SoE Chheharta, Missiondeep Trust that runs free school for girls from under privileged background, BBKDAV Public school, Yaseen road, which provides free education to children from poor families. Her fundraising campaign ran for four months and she managed to raise Rs 50,000 for her goal to create these music rooms. “By conducting masterclass sessions, explaining various genres of music, and facilitating instrument selection, I intend to provide them opportunity to create music,” she said. Of course, she begins with Bollywood music. I aim to empower them through creative exposure and different genres of music. And in my experience, I have learnt too as they are keen to learn so many things,” she shared. — TNS Amritsar, July 17 The district administration has directed the police to register cases against marriage palaces that are running laser shows in the vicinity of Sri Guru Ramdas Jee International Airport. In the Airport Environment Committee meeting held here on Wednesday, airport officials took up the issue of laser shows at marriage palaces near the airport that were causing disturbance to the pilots while landing and taking off at night and said this could lead to a dangerous situation. Subsequently, Deputy Commissioner Ghansham Thori directed the authorities to take strict action against marriage palaces running laser shows in the vicinity of the airport. The DC instructed that a case be registered against any marriage palace or individual who commits such crime in future. He said that in order to keep the landing and takeoff of the aircraft safe, it is important that no additional lights affect the pilot and if it happens, it will be necessary to take action. The demand made by the airport authorities also included instructions to clean up the area around the airport to reduce the influx of birds. The DC said the Amritsar airport was becoming a major connectivity hub for North India with the arrival of international flights and no obstacle will be allowed in its progress. — TNS
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