01082024-ATR-01.qxd 7/31/2024 10:35 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST MAINLY CLOUDY SKY GANG OF HEROIN SMUGGLERS BUSTED IN SRIGANGANAGAR ANOTHER AAM AADMI CLINIC BURGLED AT ABOHAR CURLY HAIR, ONCE CONSIDERED ‘UGLY’, NOW IN VOGUE The police claimed to have busted a gang of drug smugglers with the arrest of two persons in Naggi village. P3 Thieves targeted Aam Aadmi Clinic in Patel Park in Abohar and made away with goods worth thousands. P3 MAX 36°C | MIN 30°C YESTERDAY MAX 37°C | MIN 30°C It’s time to embrace the curls. Times change and so do trends. Curly hair, once considered ‘ugly’ is now in vogue. P4 » » SUNSET THURSDAY 7.26 PM SUNRISE FRIDAY 5.47 AM » THURSDAY | 1 AUGUST 2024 | AMRITSAR Teachers demand wages as per 7th Pay Commission report Two held for culpable homicide in separate drug death case Tortured for dowry, woman ends life PK Jaiswar Our Correspondent 20-yr-old dies of drug overdose Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 31 Drug overdose claimed the life of 20-year-old youth Sajan Singh, a resident of Khalsa Nagar area in Kot Mit Singh locality on the Tarn Taran road, here on Wednesday. The parents of the victim were left devastated as they had lost their second son (Sajan) to drug overdose. Their elder son Karan Singh (25) had died a couple of years ago also due to drug abuse. “What will I do now? I have constructed my house after taking loan with the hope that my son would help in repaying the loan amount. But what will happen now,” said Sarwan Singh, father of the victim. He said Sajan used to ply an e-rickshaw for earning a livelihood while he used to work as a vendor. He fell into bad company and got hooked to drugs. Though there has been rampant drug abuse in the area, the government, the administration and the Punjab Police have failed to nail drug peddlers. “If you name any drug ped- Tarn Taran, July 31 A 22-year-old young woman who was perturbed over the atrocities by her husband and in-laws committed suicide by consuming a poisonous substance on Tuesday. The deceased, who has been identified as Kawaljit Kaur, was married to Inderjit Singh of Rattoke under Chohla Sahib police station. The couple has a fourmonth-old son. Satnam Singh, a resident of Mehiandipur village falling under Khemkaran police station and father of the deceased, in his statement to the Chohla Sahib police, said that his deceased daughter Kawaljit Kaur had been regularly complaining of torture for dowry by her husband and his parents. On the intervention of village elders, they had just sent Kawaljit Kaur to her inlaws’ place after reaching a compromise on July 22 but she informed her parents on Tuesday that she was beaten up severely by her hus- Amritsar, July 31 The 68th general house meeting of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union (PCCTU) was held in which members announced the agenda for the year 2024-25. One of its most significant demands is the implementation of wages according to the 7th Pay Commission recommendations with uniformity across all aided, affiliated colleges in the state. Also, the members raised the issues of restoring 95 per cent grant under the grantin-aid scheme to all unaided, aided private colleges in the state, under which the state government is yet to release its share of 75 per cent funds. “We also have been batting for establishing a higher education regulatory authority in Punjab, which will keep a tab on fee hike and grants, while engaging teachers in all three universities in the state — Punjabi University, Patiala, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, and Panjab University, Chandigarh — while revising or reviewing syllabus. The state should lift the ban on the recruitment of new teachers as colleges reel under the shortage of teachers,” said Dr Gurdas Singh Sekhon, general secretary, PCCTU. He said while government college teachers are being benefitted with the 7th Pay Commission wages, teachers from private, unaided colleges are still waiting for such benefits. He said the Central Government hastily implemented the National Education Policy without removing the loopholes. Dr Vinay Sofat, president, PCCTU, said the Central Government should consider the suggestions of stakeholders in implementing the NEP modules across the country in entirety. He said they had raised these issues with the state government, but nothing came out of the discussions. AIT Chairman reviews works in New Amritsar 2-kg heroin case: Two Showroom owner Phone calls from fraudsters posing sent to police custody robbed of ~1.45 lakh as policemen trouble residents Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 31 Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) Chairman Ashok Talwar reviewed the progress of ongoing development works at New Amritsar area here. During his visit to the area, many residents expressed satisfaction over recent developments. The Chairman also met Resident Welfare Association president Rachpal Singh, secretary Ramesh Kapoor and other members and asked them about the needs of the different localities. He asked the AIT officials to solve the problems listed by the residents at the earliest. Talwar said he is visiting different areas under the jurisdiction of the AIT to get first-hand information of problems being faced by the residents. — TNS Wailing family members and acquaintances of Sajan Singh (inset) who allegedly died of drug overdose in Amritsar on Wednesday. TRIBUNE PHOTO dler, they would threaten to kill you. I have lost my both sons to drugs and I want that no other child dies of drug addiction again. I would make effort and wage a war against the abuse,” he said. Shaminderjit Singh, SHO, Division B police station, expressed his ignorance about the incident. “I am unaware of any such incident as no one has approached the police as yet. I would go and investigate,” he added. Meanwhile, the Ajnala police have arrested two alleged drug peddlers on a charge of culpable homicide after a youth, identified as Ranjit Masih, of Ward No.15 in Ajnala died of alleged drug overdose. His body was found lying near Ajnala Sakki bridge three days ago. He went missing on Saturday. Those booked were identified as Happy and Sahil, both residents of Adarsh Nagar in Ajnala. They have been arrested, said ASI Major Singh, investigating officer in the case. He said during a probe, it was found that both were involved in drug trafficking and they had provided drugs to Ranjit Masih leading to his death. Initially, the police had taken action under Section 194 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita. Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 31 A local court has sent two drug peddlers — Gurjit Singh of Ghumrawa village in Ramdass and Gurmukh Singh of Nangal Sohal village in Ramass — arrested by the Amritsar rural police on Tuesday to police custody for two days for further interrogation. The police had confiscated 2-kg heroin from their possession. Acting on a tip-off, the Ramdass police had arrested the duo when they were travelling on a bike and going to deliver the contraband to their forward links. Police sources said Gurjit and Gurmukh had no criminal background, though they had been in the illegal trade Tribune News Service Two accused in custody of the amritsar police. TRIBUNE PHOTO for quite some time now. They were arrested for the first time. They said investigations were on to ascertain the source of the contraband and their backward and forward linkages. Amritsar, July 31 Four armed robbers robbed an electronic goods showroom owner of ~1.45 lakh cash, a gold karah and three brand new mobile phones in Guruwali area here on late Tuesday night. The police have registered a case in this regard. Surinderpal Singh, a resident of Ganda Singh Colony, told the police that he runs an electronic goods showroom in Heritage city Guruwali area. He said at around 8.13pm on Tuesday, four persons with covered faces entered the showroom. They had arrived on two bikes. After entering the showroom, they took out a pistol and pointed at him and asked to hand over everything which he had while threatening to shoot him. He said the accused took out his gold karah, an expensive mobile phone from his pocket and ~20,000. They later took out ~1.25 lakh from the cash box and three new phones and fled towards the Amritsar side. The Chatiwind police have registered a case in this connection. The police said closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras in the area were being scanned to identify the perpetrators. Amritsar, July 31 Fraudsters posing as police officers continue to trouble gullible residents as they have no way to track and press charges against them as the calls are placed through WhatsApp numbers registered in other countries. Many residents of the city have received calls from these fake police officials who threaten to implicate their family members in criminal cases if they are not ready to transfer money into their accounts. Parashotam Singh, a local resident, said, “I received a call a short while ago, the caller identified himself as a subinspector of police. The caller alleged that he had my son in his custody. He was arrested Victim Kawaljit Kaur with her minor son. PHOTO: GURBAXPURI band and others. Under depression because of the torture by her in-laws, she consumed some poisonous substance on Tuesday and died by the time her parents reached the spot. The Chohla Sahib police have registered a case under Section 80 (2) and 61 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) against her husband Inderjit Singh Rattoke, his father Bhag Singh and mother Paramjit Kaur of Rattoke village. The accused are absconding. The post-mortem of the body was conducted at the local Civil Hospital today. CALLERS THREATENING GULLIBLE PEOPLE ■ Many residents of the city have received calls from these fake police officials who threaten to implicate their family members in criminal cases if they are not ready to transfer money into their accounts. ■ A local resident said he had received a call a short while ago, the caller identified himself as a sub-inspector of police. The caller alleged that he had his son in custody. He was arrested with two other people who had illegal weapons on them. with two other people who had illegal weapons on them.” Sharing details about the modus operandi of these criminals, Singh said, “The caller asked me not to disconnect the call. He continued putting pressure on me stating that my son would go to jail for a long time.” Singh continued to play along until his wife had already checked the well-being of their son from another phone. He added that after he called out the fraudster’s bluff, he started abusing him and then disconnected the phone call. Another resident Charanjit Singh said that he too had received a similar call from a number where the caller threatened him, claiming to be a police officer in Delhi. He said that people in his social circle were aware of such scams and did not take these calls seriously. The residents stated that the police must take action against such fraudsters. Experts laud proposal for airport expansion City traffic police all set to tighten Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 31 Aviation experts have appreciated the district administration’s proposal for expanding the Sri Guru Ram Das Ji International Airport and said that nothing less than doubling the present capacity of the airport will work keeping in view the rising footfall. Before Covid-19, the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation proposed to expand the integrated passenger terminal building at a cost of Rs 240 crore. Barring the years of pandemic-induced economic crisis, the airport has been recording a spike in domestic and international passenger footfall for the past five years. The peak hour passenger handling capacity, currently at around 2,000, has seen an improvement from 1,650 passengers with the addition of the newly remodelled terminal building in 2019, the recent installation of an inline X-ray baggage handling system, increase in the number of security check counters and the remodelling of passenger check-in area. Gunbir Singh, an aviation expert, favoured doubling of passenger capacity at the airport. Lauding the call for expansion of airport capacity and the letters to this effect written by Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori to the state and Union governments, he said the issue at this juncture is whether this increase itself will be adequate? The holy city has more than 35 million pilgrims and tourists visiting the Golden Temple annually. It is no secret that the preference for air travel is increasing and figures for domestic travel in the country and city prove this. “The number of airlines flying in to meet the demand and thus have a hand in the business opportunity is only being curtailed by the civil aviation policies that favour the Indira Gandhi Airport in Delhi. Yet demand for international connections to the holy city has risen. International traffic during 2023 at the airport has increased by 30 per cent, and domestic by 20 per cent. It is also essential to mention that Amritsar is the cultural and spiritual capital of Punjab, with obvious synergies to the hill states where weather vagaries make air service unreliable.” Keeping these in view, the city airport requires a plan for expansion way beyond the 20 per cent or so perceived from the present carrying capacity of 1,200 passengers at one time. A 10-year plan is the minimum which thus merits a doubling of capacities considering that the execution of the plan itself will take a few years. Yogesh Kamra, Convener (India), FlyAmritsar Initiative and former member of the Airport Advisory Committee, said the current infrastructure is becoming inadequate to handle the growing number of travellers, leading to congestion and delays. Expanding and modernising the terminal will not only alleviate these issues but also enhance the overall passenger experience and support the region’s economic growth. In a letter to the previous Minister of Civil Aviation and AAI Chairman in May 2024, the Initiative highlighted various issues encountered by passengers. In reply to an RTI query filed by Kamra in May this year, the AAI responded that the expansion of existing terminal building is in the planning stage. c m y b noose around underage drivers PK Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 31 As the last date for ‘immunity’ from challans against underage driving comes to an end on Wednesday, the traffic police is all set to tighten the noose around the offenders from tomorrow onwards. While the traffic education cell continued with an awareness programme till last day (today), the presence of traffic cops has also increased on different intersections of the city. Today, they held meetings at a private school on Queens Road and government high schools in Fatahpur and Vallah localities, respectively. “We received a good response from parents who appreciated the Punjab Government’s decision to implement the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act in letter and spirit and curb underage driving. They assured that they would cooperate with the police in controlling Underage students driving a motorcycle outside a school in Amritsar on Wednesday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR underage driving and would stop their wards from driving vehicles on roads,” said SubInspector Daljit Singh, incharge, traffic education wing (of the city police). He said those in the 16-18 age group can drive a 50cc vehicle and that too after having obtained a valid learning licence. In case of e-vehicles, they could opt for low speed e-bikes, but only after having a learning licence. Rajneesh Sharma, a local resident, said stringent measures would definitely help the police in controlling underage driving. It would help reduce the number of road mishaps. Sudhir Sharma, a lawyer at the district courts, said it is the need of the hour to take such strong measures to control potentially unsafe underage driving. Advising remedial measures, he said teenagers and their parents can opt for latest vehicles like electric cycles, which do not require any licence. “In order to go to their educational institute or the market, teenagers can go for alternate vehicles like e-bikes. By doing so, they can contribute towards saving the environment by reducing carbon emissions,” he said. Vijay Kumar, a government employee posted at the Health Department, said underage driving is one of the major reasons behind road mishaps on city roads. As per the new amendment to the Motor Vehicles Act, the guardian of the minor or owner of the vehicle would be held responsible for breaking the rules related to underage driving and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly. Under the law, a minor who commits offence would not be eligible for a driving licence till the age of 25 while the registration of a motor vehicle used by the minor will be cancelled for 12 months.