04092024-JTR-01.qxd 9/3/2024 11:19 PM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar tribune KV SANGATHAN'S FIVE-DAY SPORTS MEET COMMENCES CBI TO PROBE VIDHU'S MYSTERIOUS DEATH FROM CANINE NUTRITIONIST TO PASSIONATE ‘PETPRENEUR’ The event brings together 1,114 athletes - 460 boys and 654 girls from 25 KVS across the country. P2 11-year-old had died after being 'burnt' in Malerkotla in 2013, family claims he was killed. P3 Ishmeet’s pet venture Harley’s Corner offers healthy and flavourful everyday meals for dogs. P4 » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 35°C | MIN 26°C YESTERDAY MAX 34°C | MIN 25°C SUNSET WEDNESDAY 6.47 PM SUNRISE THURSDAY 6:05 AM » WEDNESDAY | 4 SEPTEMBER 2024 | JALANDHAR Chitta costs woman’s two houses, now life INBRIEF TWO HELD FOR STEALING BIKES Phagwara: The police have arrested a miscreant on the charge of stealing motorcycles. The accused has been identified as Karamjit Singh, alias Karma, a resident of Mannakpur village. A motorcycle stolen from a hospital on August 25 has been recovered from his possession and a case has been registered against the accused. The police have recovered two more motorcycles. Meanwhile the police have also arrested Harpreet Sigh of Burj Hassan village with a stolen motorcycle without a registration number. Besides, five mobile handsets were also recovered. OC VILLAGER NABBED WITH PISTOL Phagwara: The Mehatpur police have arrested a villager with an illegal firearm. The accused has been identified as Buta Singh, a resident of Dharme Dian Chhana village. The police said an illegal pistol of .32 bore with a magazine and 3 cartridges were recovered from the accused. A case under the Arms Act has been registered against the accused. OC PILGRIM DIES, 12 HURT IN MISHAP Phagwara: One pilgrim was killed on the spot while more than one dozen sustained injuries when a speeding Canter dashed against the stationary bus near Phillaur on Monday night. Five of the injured were sent to the PGI. All were going from Haridwar to Jammu for pilgrimage. The accident occurred when the bus driver was changing the punctured tyre and the speeding Canter rammed into parked bus. OC Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service After a heavy rainfall, a cyclist wades through a waterlogged road; and (below) the submerged Central Town area in Jalandhar on Tuesday. Heavy rain throws life out of gear Tribune News Service Jalandhar, September 3 A few hours of rain today exposed the Municipal Corporation’s inability to address waterlogging issue in the city as major roads and streets were submerged again. Central Town was the worst-hit with knee-deep water inundating roads and seeping into shops, leaving commuters and visitors stranded for hours. Other affected areas included Ladowali Road, Cool Road, Lamma Pind Chowk, the Jalandhar-Amritsar highway near Sarab Multiplex and Gazi Gullan. Shopkeepers in these areas expressed resentment against the clogged sewers, which cause water to accumulate for up to two days, severely impacting their businesses. “Despite repeated requests for sewer cleaning before the monsoon, no action was taken by the Municipal Corporation”, the shopkeepers said. The heavy rain also caused power outage in many areas and traffic lights at key intersections, including BMC Chowk, Cool Road near Iconic Mall, Urban Estate Phase- Close shave for MC staff as down ceiling gives way Tribune News Service Jalandhar, September 3 MC employees had a close shave when the down ceiling of the Tehbazari wing fell on Monday afternoon. They were having a lunch in the room that time. The incident took everyone by surprise. There were eight employees in the department at that time. As per information, its maintenance was done a year ago and within a year, the incident happened. Ashwini Gill, Superintendent of the Tehbazari wing, said the work to repair the down ceiling had started. “We have now shifted to another room. Thankfully, no one was hurt and there is no loss as well. The moment the ceiling fell, all of us hurriedly came out,” he said. Down ceiling of the MC Tehbazari department room falls off. II and BSF Chowk, stopped working, resulting in traffic chaos on the roads. Residents took to social media to express their anger, sharing images of waterlogged streets and criticising the MC for neglecting the drainage system, despite significant budget allocations for infrastructure improve- ments. Videos from Central Town showing bikes and cars submerged in water till the height of windshield were widely circulated, with roads resembling a virtual pool. They also highlighted the dangers posed by hidden potholes on waterlogged roads, which often lead to accidents and vehicle damage. “Water- Jr women’s hockey team trials tomorrow Two Bathinda school girls go missing, cops’ hunt on Jalandhar, September 3 The trials for the Punjab junior women’s hockey team are scheduled to be held on September 5 at Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium at 8 am. The selected team will participate in the 14th Hockey India Junior Women’s Hockey Championship to be organised by Hockey India at Guwahati, Assam, from September 30 to October 10. Hockey Punjab president Nitin Kohli and general secretary Amrik Singh Powar said players born after January 1, 2005, can participate in these trials. Players participating in trials should bring their original Aadhaar card at the time of trials as no players without the original Aadhaar card will be allowed to participate. A coaching camp will be organised for the selected players. TNS logging is nothing new in the city. Even if it rains for 20 minutes, the roads are flooded. Last year, nearly every road was dug up for the upgrade of sewerage system, but I see no change,” said resident Mansi Ahuja. She called for strong action against the MC for failing to find a permanent solution to this waterlogging issue. Tribune News Service Jalandhar, September 3 Two 11th-grade girls from meritorious school near Sports College on Kapurthala Road went missing on Monday. The disappearance has prompted an intensive police investigation and an FIR has been registered in this connection. According to initial reports, the girls attended the school as usual on Monday and had gone out after the classes were over. Till evening, the girls didn’t return to the school’s hostel, after which the warden alerted the school management about their absence. Both girls hail from Bathinda. On the complaint of girls’ parents, who arrived in the city today, an FIR has been lodged and they are working closely with the police, help- ing them to locate the girls at every place they believe both could go. Victor Masih, SHO from the Basti Bawa Khel police station, said they had launched an investigation. CCTV cameras from the area captured the images of the girls near the school, but their subsequent whereabouts remained unknown. The police have mobilised special teams to MLA raises concern over heavy metals in groundwater Favours elaborate study to verify facts in House session Tribune News Service Kapurthala, September 3 Speaking on the environmental issues concerning Punjab during Zero Hour in Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday, Sultanpur Lodhi MLA Rana Inder Par- tap Singh said the state government needed to urgently verify the reports of toxicity in the underground water in the districts of the Majha belt, including Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur. Studies by various agencies have revealed the traces of heavy metals such as arsenic and uranium and nitrates in the groundwater. “For about 20 years, we have been getting reports of toxicity in sub-soil water from the Malwa belt and now the waters of Majha have also been reported toxicity”, he said in the House. He added that the outside agencies are telling us about the presence of heavy metals in the water, the state government should cross-check this, find the reasons and take corrective steps by making a detailed plan. Jalandhar, September 3 A woman from a well-off family died of drug overdose at Dakoha here yesterday. A day before her death, her partner from the same locality, who too was addicted, died due to drug consumption. Addicted to chitta, she had sold all of her assets in the last two years, including two houses that she owned. She had no lodging since then. Residents said she was often seen lying here and there along roadsides in an intoxicated condition. Her body was found at a durgah in the locality yesterday. A group of men from the village, including AAP leader Balbir Singh Bittu, performed her last rites as there was no one else to perform her funeral. Bittu said, “She had lost her mother about 15 years ago and was putting up at her maternal grandfather’s place. She lost him too. Her sister too had died mysteriously. Her maternal aunt also died due to acute depression. She was the only one left behind and fell into the bad company.” Her neighbours said she was never into studies. “She studied till school only, despite being financially stable. She was not inclined at making a career. We often spotted her riding her scooter and a cigarette between her lips. We had heard that she sold off her scooter. A few days later, she sold off the gate of her house. She got demolished a portion of her house and started selling its bricks too. Eventually, she even sold the house she lived “The rock strata close to the aquifers might be containing heavy metals enriched and percolating in the aquifers. This also needs to be verified”, he said. Ruling out the presence of impurities due to agriculture run-off, he said in that case it would have been uniform in all districts of the state which was not the case. The reports from four districts for arsenic, c m y b uranium, iron and nitrates have lots of variation, which was not realistically possible. Raising the alarm of heavy iron content in the water which is 10 to 15 times the toxic limits, Rana Inder Partap Singh said there were at least 45 lakh redundant agriculture tubewells in the state and the farmers had a tendency of shifting the tubewells but the iron pipes are left in the earth which get rusted and oxidised iron percolates into the water. “We need to make an elaborate plan to take these redundant pipes out of the earth”, he suggested and raised the alarm to study the future impact of plastic pipes used these days to bore water. The studies should not be in piecemeal. There should be comprehensive data analysis, he said. trace the girls’ route by reviewing additional CCTV footages. He said both girls were not having mobile phones, thus no call records were available through which it could be known who was the last person they talked to. “We have alerted the neighbouring police stations as well as personnel at nearby bus stands and railway stations in a bid to locate the students”, he added. SOLD EVERYTHING FOR DRUGS often spotted ❝Weher scooter andher riding smoking a cigarette. We had heard that she sold off her scooter. A few days later, she sold off the gate of her house. She got demolished a portion of her house and started selling its bricks too. Eventually, she even sold the house she lived in. She did all this to buy daily dose of drugs. ❞ A REALTOR in. She did all this to buy herself her daily dose of drugs”, a realtor in the area said. Shopkeepers in the area said she owed them some money as she would buy stuff but never made a payment. More shockingly, she and her partner were indulging in small thefts to buy intoxicants. Asked why she was not taken to a de-addiction centre, her neighbours said, “She remained admitted to a deaddiction centre at Kapurthala, completed the treatment but there was a relapse. She got hooked soon after. She had become so frail and the prick injuries due to frequent use of syringes had become so obvious on her arms and legs. We could sense that her end was near. A self-ruined girl went away too soon”. 2 women among 14 held with drugs phillaur, September 3 The police have arrested 14 criminals and seized 37 gm of heroin, 42 bottles of illicit liquor, several weapons, one car and 12 bikes from their possession on Monday night. DSP Sarwan Singh Bal said 37 gm heroin, a car, one bike was recovered from two couples identified as Sunil Kumar and his wife Jaswinder of village Ganna, Mohan Lal and Sunita of Phillaur while 42 bottles of illicit liquor was recovered from Ajay Kumar. DSP Bal said the police had arrested nine members of two different gangs and recovered 11 stolen/snatched bikes and a many sharp-edged weapons from their possession. The DSP said these criminals were involved in various incidents in Jalandhar and Ludhiana. Cases under relevant sections of the BNS have been registered against the accused. — OC Last date to regularise water connection today Jalandhar, September 3 The last date to regularise illegal water supply and sewerage connections under the onetime settlement scheme (OTS) in the city is September 4. The MC has asked residents to take advantage of the scheme. Under the domestic category, for the plot from 125 sq yard to 250 sq yard, one-time fee of Rs 400-Rs 2,000 will be deposited. Under the commercial category, for the plot size up to 250 sq yd, a fee of Rs 2,000 will have to be deposited and for the area over 250 sq yard, Rs 4,000 will be deposited. After this, no other charges such as road cutting, connection fee and security will be chargeable. TNS