26072024-LT-01.qxd 7/25/2024 11:50 PM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune MAN MURDERED OVER LAND AT BASRAWAN VILLAGE EXPLORE AUDIOBOOKS AND FILMS ON KARGIL WAR ANNIV Cops have initiated probe into an incident in which a migrant labourer had allegedly murdered a farmer at Basrawan. P2 As we celebrate 25th anniversary of Kargil War, we explore stories that defined bravery of our soldiers. P4 » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 36°C | MIN 26°C YESTERDAY MAX 35°C | MIN 26°C TAHA TURNS SHOWSTOPPER FOR ABU & SANDEEP KHOSLA SUNSET FRIDAY 7.20 PM Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, veterans of Indian fashion industry, returned to India Couture Week. P4 SUNRISE SATURDAY 5:39 AM » FRIDAY | 26 JULY 2024 | LUDHIANA Man arrested with heroin Ludhiana, July 25 The Basti Jodhewal police have arrested Sunny Gill, a resident of Vishal Colony, Kakowal Road, here, and seized 8.21 gm of heroin from his possession. On getting a tip-off, a naka was laid and the suspect was stopped for checking. He was coming from the Kakowal Government School side towards Tower Line. During the checking, heroin was seized from him. He is into selling drugs and himself is a drug addict. A case under Sections 21, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against the suspect Four cases of illicit liquor recovered The Division Number 4 police have arrested Vijay Kumar, alias Bunty, and Taranjit Singh, both residents of Chowni Mohalla, and seized three cases of Royal Challenge whisky and one case of Imperial Blue whisky from their custody. According to the police, both suspects were selling liquor in an illegal manner. On July 24, when they were coming on a Honda Activa, the suspects were arrested and the illicit liquor was seized. A case under the Excise Act has been registered against the duo. — TNS Powerless for 5 days, Salem Tabri residents protest against PSPCL They say visited office of local MLA Bagga but to no avail Shivani Bhakoo Tribune News Service Ludhiana, July 25 Residents from street 3, 4 and 5 in the New Ashok Nagar, Salem Tabri, sat on a dharna today for over four hours to protest against the lackadaisical approach of the PSPCL as for the past five days, there is no power in the area. Residents rued that the PSPCL had failed to restore power for the past five days in the area. Talking to The Tribune, Gurdev Singh, a local resident, said he was a labourer and residents of the area were facing hardships in the absence of power in this hot and humid weather. “How can officials be so callous? Had it been in some posh area or VIP locality, the power would have restored after some time. But here, we all come from humble backgrounds and this is the reason no attention is being paid towards our plight,” he said. Another resident, Hardeep Singh, said in such a situation, children were not able to go to schools as water was also not Residents stage a protest at Salem Tabri in Ludhiana. TRIBUNE PHOTO: HIMANSHU MAHAJAN available. “We have no water to cook food or drink. How can we ask our wards to go to school when they have not taken bath for the past twothree days? In the absence of power, we cannot use pumps to get water,” he said. The residents said they had visited the office of local MLA Madan Lal Bagga but to no avail. “The MLA has given an assurance that the problem will be rectified soon but it is not resolved so far. We are staying in a miserable condition,” said another resident. Over 200 persons from affected parts of the area sat on a dharna, protesting against the department for not paying attention to the issue. The residents said it was not possible for residents, especially small children, to stay at home without power in the present humid weather conditions. Housewives are also facing problems in cooking food and doing household chores without power and water, they said. Meanwhile, many parts of the city have been getting erratic power supply. Resi- dents of HIG Flats, Ghumar Mandi, also complained that there was no electricity in their area for over three hours due to some fault in power cables. Annu, a homemaker, said during these few months, the demand for power increases. “The authorities should look into the matter in the remaining part of the year and rectify the issue permanently so that residents did not face inconvenience in these months. Life becomes miserable without power in such a humid weather,” she said. CNG plant to set up in city, will help ease garbage disposal Manav Mander Tribune News Service Ludhiana, July 25 City’s problem of garbage disposal is expected to be solved as the Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, will set up a CNG plant and tenders for the same have been floated and three companies have participated in the same. The tender is yet to be allotted and the entire projects of setting up of the CNG plant will take around one- -and-a-half years. It will be set up in public private partnership (PPP) mode. According to the plan, the plant will be set up on 7-acre land on Tajpur Road and 200 metric tonnes of wet waste will be disposed of daily. The entire cost of setting up of the plant will be borne by the company, which will get the tender and it will maintain the plant for 20 years. The civic body is planning to prepare fertiliser from the wet waste. Waste segregation will be a major challenge before the MC before the plant is made operational. Keeping this in view, the corporation is organising awareness drives for the public to help segregation of dry and wet waste. MC’s garbage dump on Tajpur Road, which recently caught fire. FILE WASTE SEGREGATION Before the setting up of the CNG plant in the city, residents should be used to waste segregation so that wet waste can be directly sent to the plant without wasting any time. Waste segregation facilitates the process of reuse, recycling and recovery of waste. Segregating waste can improve the recycling process. An official from the MC, Ludhiana, said residents were being advised to hand over segregated dry and wet waste to garbage collectors. Shopkeepers and residents were also being asked to keep separate dustbins for dumping dry and wet waste. A resident staying on Tajpur Road said foul smell always emanates while passing near the MC’s garbage dump site at Tajpur. Huge heaps of garbage have come up like those one sees while entering Delhi. Things become difficult during rainy season and it increases problems when the heaps of garbage catch fire during summers. “The MC should think about some solution and get rid of the huge garbage pile. The project will prove a boon for the city,” said Amarajit Singh. During April, May and June, frequent fire incidents occur at the dumpsite in Jamalpur and regular monitoring is required to check the same. 21-year-old dies of ‘drug overdose’ MC razes four illegal colonies, 10 shops Our Correspondent Sahnewal, July 25 The mother of a 21-year old youth has alleged murder of her son due to overdose of ‘chitta’, forcibly given by a resident of Lohara and two of Jodhan on the night of May 5 this year. The Sahnewal police have registered a case against the three persons under Section 304 yesterday on the basis of a complaint given by the victim’s mother. Parminder Kaur, a resident of Dhillon Nagar, Lohara, has alleged that her son Harshdeep Singh, alias Harry, was taken along by Mohit Verma, a resident of Lohara, and Akash Dogra and his brother, both residents of POLICE WILL ACT AS PER VISCERA REPORT: COP “The viscera report is still pending and the police can act only on the basis of the report. We have to wait for the arrival of the report before taking action in the case. A case under Section 304 of the IPC has been registered against the suspects ,” SI Harmeet Singh said. Jodhan, and given 174 of the CrPC was drug overdose on the registered by the night of May 5. The Sahnewal police next day, she found after his death. her son in an uncon“I have no support scious state. She took of my husband since him to a local hospital he is not staying with Harshdeep, where he breathed his us. My younger son last. Parminder Kaur the deceased. and I are staying alleged that her son together. Now, I am was badly tortured by the trio getting threats from the susand ever since she had been pects to withdraw the statesubmitting complaints to the ment but I will not sit back till police for the registration of a justice is granted. I even concase against the suspects. tacted the local MLA but to no Initially, a case under Section avail,” the hapless mother Drug forcibly given to him by three suspects, alleges victim’s mother asserted. “Only a mother can understand the loss of a young child. I just want justice for the death of my son,” she said. SI Harmeet Singh said a case under Section 304 of the IPC has been registered against the suspects. “The viscera report is still pending and the police can act only on the basis of the report. We have to wait for the arrival of the report before taking action in the case,” the SI said. Tribune News Service Ludhiana, July 25 Cracking the whip on illegal constructions, the Municipal Corporation (MC) demolished four illegal colonies and 10 shops being established in different parts of the city on Thursday. Civic body teams also sealed two factories, which were being run illegally in the residential area of Jassian. Assistant Town Planner (ATP), Zone C and D, Jagdeep Singh, said the drive against illegal constructions was conducted on the directions of MC Commissioner Sandeep Rishi. Illegal colonies and shops were being estab- An illegal structure being razed by the MC in Ludhiana. lished in different areas of Zone D and C. Five illegal shops were Centre begins study of poor water quality in dist: Minister Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Ludhiana, July 25 The Union Government has begun an extensive study to check the poor quality of water in Ludhiana district. The National Aquifer Mapping Study under National Project on Aquifer Management (NAQUIM) will provide issue-based scientific inputs for groundwater management, Union Minister of State for Jal Shakti Rajbhushan Choudhary has said. Replying to a question by Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab Raghav Chadha, in the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament, he said the National Aquifer Mapping Studies were carried out in the state for an area of 50,369 sq km, based on which, groundwater management plans had been prepared and reports shared with the state and district authorities for implementation. “NAQUIM 2.0 studies are being carried out in priority areas of Ludhiana and Sangrur districts under the poor quality and over-exploited A tube well in Ludhiana. PHOTO: ASHWANI DHIMAN NAQUIM to provide issue-based scientific inputs for groundwater management area category, respectively, in the state to provide issuebased scientific inputs for groundwater management,” he stated while informing that master plan for artificial recharge to groundwater 2020 had been prepared by the CGWB in consultation with states/ UTs, which was a macro-level plan indicating various structures for different terrain conditions of the country, including estimated cost. In the state, the master plan envisages about 11 lakh rain- water harvesting and artificial recharge structures to harness about 1,200 million cubic meter (MCM) of rainwater. “The plan has been shared with the state government, which was devising a suitable action plan for its implementation in priority areas,” Choudhary said. Further, the government is implementing Jal Shakti Abhiyan (JSA) in the country since 2019 under which special emphasis is being given for rainwater harvesting/ground- water recharge. Currently, JSA-2024 is being implemented in 10 water-stressed districts of the state under which various groundwater recharge and conservation-related works are being taken up in convergence with various Central and state schemes. He said the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare was implementing the Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), which was operational from 2015-16 in the country. The PMKSY-PDMC mainly focuses on water use efficiency at farm level through precision/ micro irrigation. Besides promoting precision irrigation (drip and sprinkler irrigation system) and better on-farm water management practices (to optimise the use of available water resources), the component also supports micro-level water storage or, water conservation/management activities to supplement micro irrigation. In addition, the minister detailed that the Centre had taken several other signifi- c m y b cant initiatives for the improvement of groundwater situation in the country. Besides, the state government was also taking measures for sustainable management of the groundwater in the state. “Groundwater rejuvenation projects are mainly taken up by various line departments of the state governments under Central and state schemes and once completed the operation and maintenance of the structures also become the responsibility of the state governments concerned,” he said. Water-level depleting fast In what appears to be a matter of serious concern, the groundwater level is depleting fast at an annual average of 51-cm in the state. This was even worse than neighbouring Haryana but HP was the worst. With 115 of the total 176 monitored wells showing fall in the water level, the average depletion level has breached the 65-per cent mark in the agrarian state. In Haryana, which along with Punjab is also the food bowl of the country, the average depletion level was almost 40 per cent with 93 of the state’s 233 monitored wells registering decline in the water table. The hill state HP which also , shares boundaries with Punjab and Haryana, has the worst ratio of groundwater level depletion with 58, accounting for around 72 per cent of its 81 monitored wells showing decline in the water level. The data pertaining to Punjab was shared by the minister in response to Raghav’s unstarred question. Raghav had sought data on areas where the groundwater table had depleted to alarming levels in the past years in the state, the data on how the falling water table will affect the paddy cultivation and subsequently farmers in the Malwa region, measures taken by the government to restore groundwater in the state, which is depleting with an average of 51-cm every year, and details of the groundwater restoration projects, which are not operational or working below their capacity in the past five years in Punjab. demolished on the road leading to Jwala Singh Chowk from fish market while five other illegal shops were demolished near Malhi Palace. Two factories were sealed in the Jassian area, as these were being run in the residential area. Further, four under-construction illegal colonies were demolished in areas falling under Zone C. These were located near the Kanganwal police post, Star road, Lohara, near Eastman Chowk and near Satsang Ghar in the Lohara area. The ATP said as per the directions of the MC Commissioner, the drive against illegal constructions would continue in coming days. Two nabbed for robbing cash from wine shop The suspects in police custody in Ludhiana. TRIBUNE PHOTO Ludhiana, July 25 Tarsem Singh, alias Sema, and Gurpreet Singh, alias Gopi, both residents of Patti tehsil in Tarn Taran district, have been arrested by the Sarabha Nagar police for committing a robbery at AB Wines, near Lakshmi Petrol Pump, Ferozpur Road, here on July 21. According to the complainant, Sunil Chaoudhry, two persons wearing helmets came to the wine shop brandishing a sharp weapon and fled the scene after looting Rs 15,000 lying in the cash counter. A case was registered at the Sarabha Nagar police station in this regard. Both suspects were arrested by the police and probe is on in the case. One of the suspects, Tarsem, was an employee of the wine shop. He, in connivance with the other suspect, had conducted the loot. The police have seized a motorcycle and a sharp weapon from the duo. — TNS
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