13082024-ATR-01.qxd 8/12/2024 10:47 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 34°C | MIN 26°C YESTERDAY MAX 34°C | MIN 26°C RAIN TAKES A TOLL ON BYPASS ROAD AT VALLAH SHATRUGHAN SAYS DAUGHTER’S MARRIAGE NOT ‘ILLEGAL’ ACTOR MILIND COMES UP WITH HIS SECOND BOOK A major portion of the road was damaged due to accumulation of rain near Vallah village. P2 Speaking about his actress-daughter Sonakshi’s wedding with Zaheer, Shatrughan said it is not “illegal”. P4 Adding yet another feather to his cap, actor Milind has now come up with his second book, Keep Moving. P4 » » » SUNSET TUESDAY 7.16 PM SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 5.54 AM TUESDAY | 13 AUGUST 2024 | AMRITSAR Year on, BRTS employees wait for resumption of Metro bus service Over 1K employees rendered jobless after suspension of service in July 2023 Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 12 Around 1,500 BRTS employees were rendered jobless after the suspension of the Metro bus service last year. The employees of various firms, outsourced to operate Metro buses, staged a demonstration against the state government for not resuming the service at Novelty Chowk here on Monday. BRTS Employees’ Ekta Union president Sarbajit Singh said, “Around 1,500 employees lost their jobs after the suspension of the service. On the one hand, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is spending huge funds on advertisements to propagate that the government has provided jobs to thousands of people, but the fact is that we have lost our jobs under the current dispensation. The buses are gathering dust at the BRTS bus terminal at the Vallah-Verka bypass and employees have been Bus Rapid Transit System employees during a protest in Amritsar on Monday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR running from pillar to post for the resumption of the service for the last one year. The CM should visit our houses and see the predicament of the poor BRTS workers, who have been deprived of salaries for the last one year.” Another BRTS worker said all women employees were from needy families and earning their bread and butter from this job. Now they are facing hard times due to the apathetic attitude of the government. The employees had submitted a memorandum to MC Commissioner Health officers decry rising workload Community Health Officers burn an effigy of the state government in Tarn Taran. PHOTO: GURBAXPURI Tarn Taran, August 12 Following a call given by the state leadership of the Community Health Officers’ (CHOs) Association, Punjab, the district branch of the Association organised a protest against the state government and the Managing Director, National Health Mission, Abhinav Trikha here on Monday. The members of the association organ- ised a march in the town and burnt an effigy of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. The association warned the state government that in case their demands are not met, Punjab Cabinet Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal would be gheraoed on Independence Day when he would come to unfurl the national flag in Tarn Taran. Jasmeen Kaur, district president of the association, rue the increasing workload of members. The district president demanded that their salary should start from ~25,000 at the entry level and that their liability bonus should be reinstated. Ramandep Kaur, Ajmer Singh, Parveen Kaur and Sandeep Kaur were among others who addressed the gathering. — OC Harpreet Singh to resume the service on Friday. It is worth mentioning here that four separate companies had outsourced around 1,500 employees for driving, mechanical jobs, security, tickets, technical support and call centres. The buses have been off the road since July 2023 as the firm, which outsourced the drivers and mechanical workers for the project, had left the contract midway. The state government and the local administration have failed to resume it and no efforts are being made by the authorities in this regard. Now, the contract of other firms also ended. The BRTS was the only public transport service in the city which was economical, comfortable and safe for passengers and over 37,000 commuters used to travel in BRTS buses every day. Started at a cost of ~550 cr, the bus service has been ignored by the state government after the end of the SAD-BJP regime. A large number of students of various educational institutions used to travel on buses daily. With the suspension of the BRTS service, the travel cost of students and passengers has gone up four times. 5 booked for murder bid, firing in Ajnala Amritsar, August 12 A painter was shot at by five armed persons in Umarpura village falling under Ajnala police station here on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday. The victim allegedly suffered a bullet injury in his leg. The police have registered a case of attempt to murder against the suspects while no arrest has been made so far. Those booked were identified as Sawar, Jaskaran, Akash, Gora and Nishan Singh, all residents of Umarpura village and Raja of Bhindi Aulakh village. The victim Ashish Singh told the police that on Saturday, he had gone to Basarke village for work and returned home in the evening. He said after dinner, he along with his family was sleeping on the roof of the house when suddenly the electricity supply went off. He said he thought there was some electricity wire connected to his house that was loose. He said he went to check the fault and reached near the meter box where he found the five accused on three motorcycles there. He said they were equipped with pistols and rifles. On seeing him, they shouted that he would not be spared as he was lodging complaints against them. He alleged that the accused fired at him and a bullet hit him in the leg. He said he fell down near the house of Mukhtar Singh. Hearing his cries, his family members including his father Raju Singh, brother Anokh Singh and Haroon Singh, reached the spot while the accused fled while threatening to kill him. Sub-Inspector Kailash Chander said that raids were on to nab the suspects who were absconding. According to the police, the medical reports of the victim were awaited. — TNS Accused escapes from police custody Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, August 12 An accused escaped from the custody of Sarai Amanat Khan police on Saturday night. He has been identified as Gurpreet Singh Sona, a resident of Chhapa village. He along with his associate Paramjit Singh Pamma, a resident of Adda Chabal, was arrested by the Sarai Amanat Khan police led by ASI Satpal from the drain bridge at Naushehra Dhala on Saturday. The police recovered 517 grams of heroin, a countrymade pistol with magazine continued on page 2 Docs wear black ribbons to protest Kolkata medico’s rape Voice concern over attack on healthcare professionals Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 12 The resident doctors at Government Medical College (GMC) here protested by wearing black ribbons to express their anguish against the rape and murder of a female resident doctor at RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata. Later in the evening, the resident doctors along with the students took out a candle march to demand justice for the second year PG student-cum-resident doctor. The doctors stated that sexual assault on an onduty doctor at her place of work is highly condemnable and the guilty should be punished strictly. Dr Shivanshi, president, GMC Resident Doctors’ Association, said, “Doctors serve people day and night but they are not safe at their workplace.” She said that ample security measures should be taken at all government and private hospitals to instill a sense of security among medical professionals. Hailing from Timmowal village, the hockey skipper’s followers zoomed from 1.81L to 3.37L Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 12 The number of followers of Indian hockey skipper Harmanpreet Singh, who led Team India from the front in the Paris Olympics, has increased manifold and this development has gone viral on social media and become the talk of the town. He hails from Timmowal village, situated on GT road, on the outskirts of Amritsar. His Instagram following doubled overnight from 1.81 lakh (before bronze medal) to 2.66 lakh on August 9, and reached 3.37 lakh on Sunday. His stellar captaincy earned him the nickname of ‘Sarpanch’ which was promptly picked up by netizens. After Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed Harmanpreet posted this picture after winning the bronze medal. him as ‘Sarpanch’ in a phone call made to congratulate after the team secured a bronze medal in the Olympics after beating Spain in the play-off, he has become popular as ‘Sarpanch’ on the social media. People are tag- ging him with this name. His posting a picture of him kissing his medal on Instagram, captioned, “Hello India, this is for you,” was an instant hit. There are several reasons why he has become endearing to the public. His gesture to dedicate the bronze medal earned in the Paris Olympics to goalkeeper PR Sreejesh because it was his last match earned him the goodwill of all. Last but not least, slotting in 10 goals in the Paris Olympics, Harmanpreet Singh, who has been twice declared the player of the year by FIH, emerged as the top scorer. Earlier in the Tokyo Olympics, he was the highest scorer too. In the bronze winning match, Spanish skipper Marc Miralles had thrown a c m y b thumping challenge before his Indian counterpart by scoring the opening goal. Responding to the challenge, Harmanpreet scored a brace to power India to register a win over Spain. After ace drag-flicker Jugraj Singh, whose career was cut short by a road accident in 2003, he is the second world-class drag-flicker Punjab has produced. In his three appearances at the Olympics, India won two bronze medals. Brigadier Harcharan Singh (retd), VSM, Arjuna awardee and a medal winning hockey Olympian and gold medallist in World Hockey Cup 1975, said Harmanpreet kept performing in each match and the entire team played like a well-oiled machine under him. Dr Jaspreet Singh, general secretary, Punjab State Medical and Dental Teachers Association, while expressing solidarity with the protesting resident doctors, stated that PG students are the backbone of medical services at government medical colleges in the country. He said the teaching faculty feels that incidents of violence against medical professionals are on the rise and there is need to bring stricter legislation in force to check Reinstate suspended officials: BLOs to DC SGPC ELECTIONS Tribune News Service Harmanpreet’s Insta followers soar after Olympic bronze Resident doctors protest at GMC in Amritsar on Monday. Amritsar, August 12 Government employees assigned as Booth Level Officers (BLOs) ahead of SGPC polls met Deputy Commissioner Ghanshyam Thori to submit a demand letter, seeking reinstatement of two officials who had been suspended as they couldn’t meet their voter target. Amritsar BLO Union president Pravesh Kumar Sharma met the District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner to submit a letter regarding the difficulties being faced by BLOs deputed on election duty. The union condemned the suspension of BLOs and demanded their immediate reinstatement, citing that the extra work being carried out by BLOs in addition to teaching and non-teaching duties, has put a lot pressure on the officials. “We have requested the DC to allow exemption to BLOs in certain cases and not to force employees to perform BLO duty on gazetted holidays and public holidays. Earned leave should be arranged for BLOs as additionally they are also working on weekends and gazetted holidays. Since a large number of BLOs are from Anganwadi, Asha workers and other nontechnical fields, the unnecessary burden of filling Google forms or doing other online work should not be placed on BLOs. Some other important demands were listed in the letter,” said the BLO Union leaders. These also include a hike in annual honorarium received by BLOs from ~7,000 to ~20,000. The DC assured the union that BLOs working on voter registration for SGPC polls will be given the honorarium. State finance secretarycum-district president of Democratic Teachers’ Front Punjab Ashwani Awasthi, while lending support to BLO Union, asked the district administration to resolve their problems immediately. such incidents. Meanwhile, Punjab Civil Medical Services (PCMS) Association too has expressed solidarity and demanded that security at medical colleges and hospitals should be enhanced. The association stated that the Central government should seriously consider the longpending demand of the medical fraternity for implementation of the Act to prevent violence against healthcare professionals and clinical establishments. BSF, Punjab Police seize drone near IB Amritsar, August 12 In a joint operation, the BSF and the Punjab Police have recovered a drone carrying a pistol part from a farm located in the border belt of Amritsar sector. During the search operation at about 1.20 pm, troops successfully recovered a drone along with a packet tied to it containing upper slide and barrel of a pistol from a field adjacent to Rajatal village in Amritsar district. The consignment was wrapped in yellow coloured adhesive tape and a metal ring was also found attached with the packet. The recovered drone has been identified as a China-made DJI Mavic 3 Classic. No arrest was made in this regard yet. — TNS The seized drone. TRIBUNE PHOTO