29072024-ATR-01.qxd 7/28/2024 10:45 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 33°C | MIN 30°C YESTERDAY MAX 35°C | MIN 31°C BRINGING BEHAVIOURAL CHANGES IN DRIVERS A MUST STARS WHO STUDIED ACTING IN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS SINGER SHREYA GHOSHAL PRAISES CELINE DION Road safety force is a good step but people also need to cooperate & observe norms, say residents. P2 Janhvi took professional acting training at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in California. P4 Shreya shared her admiration for Canadian singer’s performance at the opening ceremony of Olympics. P4 » » » SUNSET MONDAY 7.29 PM SUNRISE TUESDAY 5.45 AM MONDAY | 29 JULY 2024 | AMRITSAR 3 killed as car rams into divider Were on their way home after paying obeisance at Chintpurni temple Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 28 Three youths lost their lives in a road accident while returning home from Himachal Pradesh after paying obeisance at a Chintpurni temple here on Sunday morning. The injured youth, identified as Saurav Mehra of Vrindavan Garden Enclave located on the Fatehgarh Churian road here, died during treatment at a hospital while Manish Lohia of Akash Avenue died on his way to hospital. Ram Wadera of Vrindavan Enclave was killed on the spot. The incident occurred near Mucchal village on the Amritsar-Jalandhar road highway. The area falls under the Khalchian police station. The police took the bodies of the deceased into possession and sent for an autopsy. According to family mem- The mangled remains of the car near Tangra on the Amritsar-Jalandhar road on Sunday. TRIBUNE PHOTO CAR ALLEGEDLY DRIVEN AT HIGH SPEED Bikramdeep Singh, SHO, Khalchian police station, said the driver of the car apparently lost control and rammed the vehicle into the road divider. The impact was so strong that the car was badly damaged. The people passing the road stopped and bers of the victims, Ram used to visit the shrine with pulled the victims out of the car. Police teams also reached the spot. The car was being driven at high speed and the driver apparently dozed leading to the incident, but the SHO said the exact cause of the accident was yet to be ascertained. for the Chintpurni temple. They were returning in the morning when the incident took place. Bikramdeep Singh, SHO, Khalchian police station, said the driver of the car apparently lost control and rammed the vehicle into the road divider. The impact was so strong that the car was badly damaged. The people passing the road stopped and pulled the victims out of the car. Police teams also reached the spot. The injured were rushed to hospital. Manish died on his way to hospital while Ram Wadera died on the spot, the SHO said. Mehra was admitted to the hospital for treatment, he said. The car was being driven at high speed and the driver apparently dozed leading to the incident, but the SHO said the exact cause of the accident was yet to be ascertained. Further investigations were in progress. his friends every month. Yesterday also, Ram along with his friend Manish and brother-in-law Saurav left KMSC mobilising support, jathas to leave for Shambhu tomorrow Residents up in arms over contaminated water supply Tribune News Service The CCTV grab of the incident in Amritsar. PHOTO: SUNIL KUMAR ~4.3L looted from ice cream agency in city Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 28 An unknown miscreant decamped with ~4.30 lakh from a private ice cream agency in Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar in Mall Mandi area here on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. The incident was captured on a CCTV. The police have registered a case and started investigations. Govinda, owner of the agency, said the thief not only took away the cash, but also left the godown of the ice cream open leading to huge losses. “Owing to bank holiday on Saturday and Sunday, we could not deposit the Friday and Saturday sale cash in the bank. It was kept in two cash boxes,” said Govinda. Giving details, he said the unknown miscreant entered the agency by jumping over the wall. First he went to the godown but found nothing to steal. Later he broke open the glass of the office and gained entry. He said he broke open the cash box and took away ~4.30 lakh cash from there and fled away. A police official said investigation was in progress to identify the thief. A case has been registered, he added. Amritsar, July 28 Ahead of its call to intensify its ongoing protest at the Shambhu border from July 30, the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) on Sunday held meetings in various villages to mobilise the support of farming community. KMSC general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher said groups of farmers from across the state would leave for the Shambhu border on July 30. Farmer unions have also given a call to burn effigies of the Prime Minister on August 1. The KMSC alleged that six officers from Haryana who had committed atrocities on farmers during their march towards Delhi are being honoured by the BJP government. Later on August 15, the unions have plans to take out a tractor march to protest against the policies of the BJP-led Central Government. While addressing a gathering in Attari area here on Sunday, Pandher said the Central Government is behaving as if it has been elected by corporate houses. Amritsar, July 28 Residents of various areas in the city are complaining of contaminated water supply to their houses. In one such case, residents of Nwi Abadi in Islamabad area alleged that they have complained to the authorities concerned about the contaminated water supply repeatedly, but the problem has not been solved so far. They said they have also reported the matter to MLA Dr Ajay Gupta. Pawan Kumar, a resident, said, “People are forced to drink and use the same water for bathing and other domestic chores.” He said the MLA did not come to their area once. “We wish that the MLA should drink one glass of the same water and if he feels that it is good then we would stop complaining,” he stated. — TNS Feasting time PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR A squirrel and crows relish a salted snack scattered on a road in Amritsar on Sunday. Jeweller robbed of ~60K, cellphone,goldnosepins Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 28 Around six unidentified armed persons looted a jeweller at gunpoint at Varpal Kalan village here on Saturday. The miscreants also robbed him of ~60,000 cash, a mobile phone and gold nose pins worth ~70,000. The police have registered a case in this connection. The victim Manjit Singh, (60) a resident of Jaspal Nagar area, said he runs a jewellery shop by the name of Prince Jewellers in Patti Rolan in Varpal Kalan village. He said at around 3.30pm on Saturday, he was present in the shop when six persons came on two bikes. They entered the shop and two of them took out pistol and pointed at him. They demanded the keys of the safe, but he told them that the keys were with the owner. In the meantime, Shiv Singh of the village came to the shop. They pointed pistol at him and asked him to sit at a corner. He said the accused then took out money from the cash box and around sixty nose pins weighing around 10gm from the jewellery box. They also took away his mobile phone from the spot. Jasbir Singh, investigating officer, said a case under Section 310 (2) (dacoity) of the BNS and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act was registered against unidentified miscreants. He said CCTV cameras in the area were being analyzed to find clues about the perpetrators. Woman goes missing from in-laws’ house Tarn Taran, July 28 A married women from Varnala falling under the Patti (Sadar) police station has been missing for over the last one and a half months from her in-laws’ house here. The police on the statement of Daljit Singh (a resident of Kairon village), father of the missing woman, has registered a case under Section 127 (6) of BNS on Saturday. ASI Baljinder Singh stated on Sunday that the woman had gone to take medicine on June 15, but did not return home. Daljit Singh in his statement to the police stated that she must have been detained by someone. She was married to Jasbir Singh of Varnala village, but she had strained relations with her husband. — OC AUCT terms upcoming conference on excellence in higher education a ‘hypocritical celebration’ Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 28 The Association of United College Teachers (AUCT), which consists of teachers from private and affiliated colleges, has termed an upcoming conference on Excellence in Higher Education by the Directorate of Higher Education (DHE), Punjab, a ‘hypocritical celebration’ as colleges across the state suffer from loss of students. The backlash comes after the DHE’s issuing a letter to the principals of all colleges in the state asking them to attend a conference on July 29 to celebrate “excellence in higher education” being held at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. The event is going to be addressed by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Punjab Education Minister Harjot Bains. While the event aims to highlight achievements of the higher education sec- tor in the state, the AUCT has called for a realistic approach as it has pointed out a crisis in higher education across the state. Does “academic excellence” mean fleecing students by the colleges by charging arbitrarily determined fees flouting the universities’ instructions? Teaching fraternity across the state is still waiting for wage hike under the 7th Pay Commission, while several private colleges are on the verge of closure due to decreasing enrolments of students in undergraduate and postgraduate courses,” said Tarun Ghai, a member of the AUCT, Punjab. Teachers from private colleges in the state have been alleging financial exploitation by college managements while no new recruitments are being done as mass student migration from the state to countries like Canada, Australia and the UK have led to low enrolments. “The fact that higher education policy needs reform and progressive change, we need to retain the youth choosing to fly out of the state if we need to save higher education. The increasing costs of higher education and decreasing number of students is creating a crisis that need immediate solutions, not ambitious discourse that leads to nowhere,” added Ghai. Gold prices dip as customs duty slashed from 15% to 6% Harmanpreet’s late strike thrills Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 28 Customers of gold ornaments will have to think twice before flying to the Gulf to buy jewellery after a decline of about Rs 5,000 per 10 grams of gold in the local market in the past few days. The decline in price cheered up the market and buyers which might prompt domestic demand. Traders dealing in gold ornaments attributed the fall in price to the slashing of customs duty from 15 to six per cent by the Union Government and fall in gold prices in the international market. Price correction in the yellow metal market is likely to curb the rise in gold smuggling. Pankaj Khurana, a leading Bullion market sounds note of caution saying GST rate of 3 per cent may go up. TRIBUNE PHOTO jeweller, said it was sheer coincidence that two factors in close proximity led to a sharp fall in prices within a short span. He added that the value of one ounce of gold in the international market was USD 2,470 a couple of days back which came down to USD 2,370. So there was a fall of about USD 100 per ounce in gold price in the international market. He added that making and labour charges besides other charges on gold ornaments are less in India as compared to abroad. So, there are strong chances that the customers will return to the domestic market. The price of 10 grams of gold which was Rs 75,000 a day before the presentation of the Union Budget in the local market has fallen to Rs 70,000 on Friday. A sharp fall of around Rs 5,000 has brought good cheer to the retail buyers. Vijay Mehta, president of Civil Lines Jewellers Association, said customers are upbeat over the fall in gold prices and many of them are coming out to buy ornaments, adding that many cus- c m y b tomers are holding up their funds in anticipation of a further decline in the price of yellow metal. He elaborated that jewellers are equally happy over the reduction of custom duty on gold as a reasonable price would bring more customers to the market. Adding a word of caution, Mehta informed that jewellers and goldsmiths held back their investment in the yellow metal. Bullion market dealers categorically told them that the GST rate on gold would be applicable at the time of its delivery. He stated that there has been a strong rumour in the bullion market that the present three per cent GST may be hiked by the government. In such a scenario, chances of a price hike cannot be ruled out, he said. residents of Timmowal village Captain’s last-minute goal helped India defeat NZ 3-2 Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 28 In a thrilling Paris Olympics opener, Harmanpreet Singh’s late penalty stroke secured a 3-2 victory for India against New Zealand. His goal in the final moments of the match filled Timmowal village residents and family members of Indian hockey team captain with joy. Harmanpreet did not let the opportunity fritter away, said his beaming father Sarbjit Singh. What made the goal special was that it was scored in the last two minutes of the match, he added. Ahead of the match several neighbours and relatives had gathered at Harmanpreet’s residence to watch the game. There are five Amritsar players who are part of the hockey team — Harmanpreet, Gurjant Singh of Khaliara, Jermanpreet Singh of Baba Bakala, Shamsher Singh and Jugraj Singh, both natives of Attari. Harmanpreet and Jermanpreet are drafted as defenders, Shamsher as midfielder, Gurjant as forward and Jugraj as alternate athlete. Shamsher’s father Hardev Singh, a farmer, said not only his family but the entire border village of Attari was enjoying the fact that two youngsters from the village were playing for the country in Paris. Baldev Singh, Gurjant’s father, said the entire village hopes that the young boys will bring home a gold medal in the Olympics.