01092024-ATR-01.qxd 8/31/2024 11:02 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY COPS DESTROY SEIZED DRUGS, NARCOTICS IN MALERKOTLA GUV URGED TO CHECK CANAL WATER CONTAMINATION WORLD PUNJABI HERITAGE FOUNDATION TO FETE ARTISTES The police said huge quantities of seized drugs seized from drug peddlers were destroyed. P3 The SKM has sought the Rajasthan Governor’s help to check canal water contamination in Punjab. P3 The foundation has collaborated with various cultural organisations for the event to be held in November. P4 » » » MAX 37°C | MIN 27°C YESTERDAY MAX 36°C | MIN 26°C SUNSET SUNDAY 6.54 PM SUNRISE MONDAY 6.06 AM SUNDAY | 1 SEPTEMBER 2024 | AMRITSAR Police still to solve milkman’s murder case Amritsar, August 31 Even after two days have lapsed, the police is yet to make any arrest in the sensational killing of Kulbir Singh, a milkman who was gunned down by two armed assailants near Taragarh Talawan village in Jandiala Guru area here. As per the family, it was a contract killing as the shooters were hired by US-based NRI Jagroop Singh and his parents in Dharad village to avenge the death of his sister. Following the statement of the deceased’s father Amrik Singh, the Jandiala Guru police have booked five persons for the murder. Besides the US-based NRI and his parents Kashmir Singh and Iqbal Kaur, the police booked the suspected shooters Varinder Singh and Sukh Singh of Takhtu Chak village in Vairowal in Tarn Taran. — TNS Health Dept on Vigilance radar for misuse of Central funds Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Gurdaspur, August 31 The Health Department here has come under the vigilance scanner with sleuths seeking records pertaining to grants given by the Central Government from April 2021 to run schemes like the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK), Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK) and some other initiatives of National Health Mission (NHM). All these are schemes of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Grants are provided by the Union Government to the state governments to run these schemes. On August 13, DSP Vigi, lance Bureau (VB), Gurdaspur, had written a letter to the Civil Surgeon (CS) asking him to supply the information 6-yr-old boy rescued hours after being abducted from Pathankot Abductors dropped a letter demanding ~2 cr in ransom Tribune News Service The office of the Gurdaspur Civil Surgeon. within six days. The details pertaining to all the three schemes and also the record relating to payments made to supplier RV Enterprises have been provided to the Vigilance Bureau. Relevant bank statements have also been handed over to the agency. A VB spokesman said the probe report is in the process of being finalised. “We are on the job and hope to complete the probe by the middle of September,” he said. Earlier, the VB had written two letters to the Civil Surgeon seeking the information. However, both these letters went continued on page 2 Pathankot, August 31 A six-year-old child studying in a prestigious city school was kidnapped by two persons here on Friday afternoon but a swift action by the Pathankot police led to rescue of the victim within hours from Nurpur in Kangra district of the neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh. Maahir Bhandari, son of prominent businessman Badal Bhandari, was returning from his school and was just about to enter his house in Shah colony when two car-borne occupants kidnapped him. Maahir Bhandari (victim) Victim was returning home when miscreants abducted him SSP Daljinder Singh Dhillon was quick to form teams to identify the kidnappers and also the location where the child had been taken to. Before they fled in the car, the abductors dropped a letter demanding ~2 crore in ransom. Ex-Pathankot MLA Amit Vij, who is well known to Badal Bhandari, rang up Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu who, in turn, asked the police of Nurpur to immediately locate the whereabouts of the child. Vij later gave credit to HP Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Abhishek Trivedi, Nurpur SSP Ashok Ratan and Pathankot SSP Daljinder Dhillon for solving the case within hours of the incident. “The HP police did a commendable job. The Pathankot SSP too, , quickly formed teams to crack the case,” said Vij. A video of the kidnapping had gone viral shocking residents. Police officers say the kidnappers developed cold feet after they got to know that the kidnapping had been captured on social media platforms and was being widely circulated in the town. The abductors have been identified as Amit Rana, a suspended Border Security Force (BSF) constable and his accomplice Sonu. Foreign-made pistols delivered PCMSA demands pay DTF writes to CM Mann seeking via drones seized from peddlers panel arrears, security recruitment of ETT teachers for doctors at hospitals PK Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 31 Interrogation of three drug peddlers has led to the recovery of three foreign-made pistols smuggled from Pakistan through drones. The police had arrested the three drug peddlers, Lovepreet Singh and Jagdish Singh, both residents of Kaonke Kalan village and Sahib Singh of Khasa Colony, falling under Gharinda police station here. The police had seized 704 grams of heroin from their possession. Vishaljit Singh, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP), confirmed the development and said that the police seized three 9mm Glock pistols. Two of them had the mark of Made in Austria and one of NATO army. “The seizure was made following the disclosure of Sahib Singh. These were smuggled from Pakistan through drones Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 31 The Democratic Teachers’ Front, Punjab, has written to the Punjab CM’s office, demanding to complete the recruitment process of 2,364 ETT (Elementary Teacher Training) and 5,994 ETT. They demanded that the process of recruitments and appointments must be completed by the higher education department on time. The organisation had been contesting the delay in clearing the appointment of 2,364 ETT and 5,994 ETT by the state government despite the release of the merit list for the 2,364 ETT recruitments and 5,994 ETT. The delay was caused due to certain objections raised against the advertisement and the conduct of exam of the 2,364 teachers in March 2020. The Department of Higher Education had invited applications for the appointment of 2,364 ETT meant for border area after an advertisement (dated March 6, 2020). After several delays, the state did not declare a merit list of the 2,364 ETT though it instructed to complete the recruitment process. “The 2,364 ETT candidates have been waiting for the appointment letters for several years, some even made desperate attempts to protest and hold the government agencies responsible. The unemployed yet qualified teachers are being made to sit at home while elementary schools in the state face acute teacher shortage. Similarly, due to the failure of the Education Department, the process of 5,994 ETT recruitment is also not being complet- ed due to various obstacles for a long time. How is this justified,” asked Ashwani Awasthi, DTF district unit head. To push for their demands, a sit-in protest for the 2,364 ETT recruitment has been ongoing at Vidya Bhawan, Mohali, since August 20, 2024. Similarly, a protest for the 5,994 ETT recruitment began near the Education Minister’s residence in Gambhirpur (Anandpur Sahib) on August 24. “The DTF has extended full support to these protests, urging the Punjab Government to address the deteriorating education system by completing the pending teacher recruitments. Memorandums were submitted across all districts in the state to draw the Chief Minister’s attention to this pressing issue,” said Awasthi. Amritsar, August 31 After protests by the medical fraternity against the rapeand-murder of a medico in Kolkata spelt inconvenience for the patients, more problems seem to be in store for them, especially the poor patients at government hospitals as the Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA) has announced an indefinite protest from September 9, terming its demand on resumption of assured career progression (ACP) as non-negotiable. The PCMS Association stated that assured career progression was earlier available to the doctors and an end to it was unjustified. “Unlike many other cadres, the doctors in Health Department do not have many avenues of promotion. It already takes a lifetime for a medical officer to reach the next higher post of senior medical officer,” said a doctor. The Association has also demanded release of arrears of the Sixth Pay Commission as per its report stating that arrears pertaining to the period from 2016 to 2021 are still unpaid. Earlier this month, during protests over the Kolkata incident, the Health Minister assured to provide the necessary security at all government hospitals by the end of this month. It being the last day of the month, many among the fraternity stated that this promise remains unfulfilled. Dr Madhur Poddar, general secretary, PCMSA Amritsar, said, “At least seven incidents of violence have been continued on page 2 Two girls ‘kidnapped’ in separate cases Golden Temple Mail completes 96 years of its historic run today Addict dies of drug overdose in Tarn Taran Tribune News Service Neeraj Bagga Tarn Taran, August 31 An addict died of drug overdose in Rataul village. The deceased has been identified as Jobanjit Singh (27) who belonged to a family of marginal farmers. The body was found from the playground of the government school in the village on Saturday morning. He was still unmarried. The deceased was a worker in Assam and had come back home on Friday. He demanded money from the family for drugs but the family refused. He went out and failed to return home the whole night. His father Amarjit Singh works at a marriage palace in the nearby Varpal village. Amarjit Singh, father of the deceased, in his statement recorded before Sub-inspector Naresh Kumar, in-charge of Doburji police post, said that the family recovered a syringe near the body. The family said he probably had an overdose of drugs and died on the spot. The Doburji police post has lodged a report. der Section 174 of the CrPC. The post-mortem of the body was done at the local Civil Hospital today. — OC Tribune News Service Three foreign-made pistols in custody of the Amritsar police. and retrieved by the troika,” revealed the ADCP while talking to Amritsar Tribune. The investigations carried out so far revealed that they had been operating on the directions of Malaysia-based drug peddler Gaurav alias Gora, who originally hails from Kaonke Kalan village. He was in touch with the three drug peddlers through WhatsApp. He used to send them to locations from where the trio used to retrieve the consignments. After retrieving the drugs, he used to send the contact details of those to whom they used to hand over drugs. They have been in three-day police remand and further investigations are in progress to establish their backward and forward linkages. Yesterday, the police got a tip-off that the three accused were involved in cross-border continued on page 2 MC presents Swachh ranking awards to schools, colleges, offices Tribune News Service MC officials felicitate institution heads for hygiene in Amritsar on Saturday. TRIBUNE PHOTO Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 31 An award ceremony for Swachh ranking of institutions of Amritsar city under Swachh Survekshan 2024 was organised at the meeting hall of the local Municipal Corporation in which appreciation certificates were given to the deserving institutions by MC Commissioner Harpreet Singh. The institutions in various categories that have maintained cleanliness and desirable services as per conditions of Swachh Survekshan 2024 were awarded. Teams of MC Amritsar had earlier visited each institute and given marks according to the conditions of Swachh Survekshan 2024. MC Commissioner Harpreet Singh appreciated all the awarded institutions and emphasised that others should follow their path to achieve cleanliness and better services for the citizens in order to achieve good ranking in Swachh Survekshan 2024. Three schools including Government Senior Secondary School, Chheharta, Atam Public High School and Bedi School, Putaligarh were awarded. Among colleges, GNDU, Khalsa College for Women and Saroop Rani Government College; among hotels Hyatt, Taj and Holiday Inn were awarded. In hospitals, Amandeep Hospital, Bhandari Hospital and Arora Hospital; in markets, Kabir Park, Golden Cloth market, and IDH market were awarded. In the category of government offices, Food Supply office, MC office, DCP office and Customs House were awarded. Amritsar, August 31 The Kathunangal police have booked Davinder Singh, a resident of Tejavilla village in Gurdaspur district, for allegedly kidnapping a 17year-old girl after luring her with a marriage proposal. Efforts were underway to recover the girl, the police said. The father of the victim in his complaint to the police stated that his daughter had gone to Majitha for preparing a caste-related certificate on August 20, but did not return home. Her mobile phone was switched off. He said he tried to find her but in vain. He said his daughter used to visit her friend at Chhina village on a regular basis and she also used to come to meet her daughter. He said he learnt that her friend’s brother-in-law (jija) Davinder Singh had met the victim a number of times there. He also used to meet them. As he was married and a father, they did not suspect that he has any mala fide intention. Now, he learnt that he had continued on page 2 c m y b Amritsar, August 31 A majority of the passengers travelling in the Golden Temple Mail, earlier known as the Frontier Mail, were unaware that the train will complete 96 years of its run on September 1. The then British-Indian government had projected it as its glorious achievement for being the longest train link in the Indian subcontinent as it had its inaugural run on this day in 1928. Earlier, the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway Company in conjunction with the North Western Railway Company had introduced the Frontier Mail from Bombay to Peshawar via Delhi and Lahore on October 7, 1927. The Frontier Mail was formally renamed as the Golden Temple Mail in September 1996. The Frontier Mail is a mere shadow of its former glory today. Nonetheless, the train has an appeal and charisma that will live on in the hearts of its faithful passengers for a long time to come. Railway officials said that initially, the train was routed A railway official signals the start of the journey of the Golden Temple Mail at the Amritsar railway station on Saturday. PHOTO: SUNIL KUMAR via Bathinda, Ferozepur and Lahore to Peshawar, now in Pakistan. But from March 1, 1930, it was routed through Saharanpur, Ambala and Amritsar. Since then, this train has been running on the same route. After the Partition, the destination of this train was cut short and now the train terminates at Amritsar. “That was the time when the Frontier Mail could lay claim to being India’s fastest long-distance train, a fact that was highlighted in The Times in London in 1930, when it described the Frontier Mail as ‘one of the most famous express trains under the British Empire’.” The Frontier Mail’s punctuality too was something to reckon with. 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