07092024-JTR-01.qxd 9/6/2024 11:24 PM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar tribune MINISTER LAYS STONE FOR ~32 CR BIOMINING PROJECT POLICE, VETERINARY WORKERS CLASH NEAR CM'S RESIDENCE The incident occurred when the protesters, demanding regular job, tried to breach police barricades. P3 PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 34°C | MIN 26°C YESTERDAY MAX 35°C | MIN 26°C CHANDIGARH SANGEET NATAK AKADEMI TO AWARD ARTISTES Additional ~2.80 cr allocated for the supply, installation and commissioning of machinery in Jalandhar. P2 FORECAST It’s for the first time in 44-year history of the Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Akademi that such awards have been announced. P4 » » SUNSET SATURDAY 6.43 PM SUNRISE SUNDAY 6:07 AM » SATURDAY | 7 SEPTEMBER 2024 | JALANDHAR Cong protests hike in tax on petro products INBRIEF VILLAGER NABBED OVER ASSAULT Phagwara: The police have arrested a villager and booked six others on the charge of assaulting a person. The arrested accused has been identified as Gurpreet Singh of Cheema Khurd village. Amarjit Singh of the same village complained to the police that the accused and his six accomplices attacked and seriously injured him on September 1 evening. A case has been registered against six residents of Cheema Khurd village. OC TWO ARRESTED WITH GAANJA Phagwara: The police have arrested two migrant youths and seized one kg of gaanja from their possession on Thursday night. Phagwara SP Rupinder Kaur Bhatti said the accused Raj Kumar and Ram Parshad of Bihar, living in village Khajurala near Phagwara, were nabbed at check-point. A case under has been registered. OC YOUTH NABBED FOR THEFT Phagwara: The police have arrested a youth on the charges of stealing Rs 40,000 from a donation box kept in a religious place in village BiddhDhandholi near Rawalpindi (Phagwara). The accused was identified as Prince, resident of the same village. The police have recovered Rs 980 from the accused. OC THREE BOOKED FOR SNATCHING CASH Phagwara: The police have booked three miscreants on the charge of snatching cash and a mobile phone from a villager. One of the accused has been identified as Paramjit Singh, alias Pappa, of Hari Pur village. Arash Deep of Kotli Gajran village complained to the police that the accused waylaid him on August 28 and snatched Rs 2,000, his smartphone and the key to his motorcycle. OC TWO DRUG PEDDLERS HELD Phagwara: The police have arrested a drug peddler on the charge of selling heroin. As much as 100 gram of heroin was recovered from the possession of the accused Harsukh Preet Singh of Umre Wal village. In another case, the police have arrested drug peddler Ravindarjit Singh, alias Bukann, of Bajwa Kalan village with 250 gram of opium. OC MAN HELD FOR STEALING GOLD Phagwara: The police have arrested a person on the charge of stealing jewellery from a house. The accused has been identified as Sahil, alias Kaka, a resident of Umre Wal village. Jatindar Singh of the village complained to the police that the accused barged into his house and took away gold ornaments and a watch. OC WOMAN DIES IN ROAD ACCIDENT Hoshiarpur: A woman died in a road accident on HoshiarpurTanda road. Rajiv Thakur, a resident of village Mirzapur, told the police that his sister-inlaw Mamta Thakur was hit by a car near Khadiala Sainian. He rushed her to a private hospital where she succumbed to injuries. A case has been registered. OC Jalandhar, September 6 Congress leaders held a protest against the fuel price hike, slamming the Aam Aadmi Party government for not caring two hoots for the additional financial burden on the public. Led by MLAs Hardev S Laddi Sherowalia and Sukhwinder Kotli and DCC chief Rajinder Beri, Congress workers handed over a memorandum to Additional Deputy Commissioner Amit Mahajan on the issue. The spot where an accident took place in which two youths died at Goraya. Two youths killed in Goraya road mishap Ashok Kaura Phagwara, September 6 In a heart-wrenching accident at Goraya, two young motorcyclists lost their lives in a collision with a highspeed vehicle on a flyover on NH1 on Friday evening. The accident occurred when a speeding vehicle hit their motorcycle (PB-02-AR3054) from the back as they were going to Amritsar. The speeding vehicle’s driver fled after hitting the bike. One of the deceased was identified as Gurpreet Singh, resident of Chuheki village of Amritsar. The impact of the DRIVER FLEES The accident occurred when a speeding vehicle hit their motorcycle (PB-02-AR-3054) from the back as they were going to Amritsar. The vehicle’s driver fled after hitting the bike. collision was so severe that one of the victims got thrown off the flyover, resulting in his death on the spot. His bloodstained body fell on the service lane in front of the busy market area. The other rider got caught up in an iron angle along the national highway and succumbed to his injuries. His body remained hanging there for a few minutes till people realised what had happened and they rushed to his rescue. The Goraya police led by DSP Phillaur, Sarwan Singh , Bal rushed to the spot immediate after receiving the news about this tragedy and took custody of the bodies which were sent to the Civil Hospital in Phillaur for postmortem examination. The police are investigating the case and are making efforts to identify the vehicle involved in the fatal hit-and-run. The identity of the second youth could not be ascertained yet. Asks AAP govt to withdraw tax They raised anti-government slogans and said people, who were already reeling under inflation, were now being forced to face an additional hike of 61 paise per litre of petrol, 92 paise of diesel and Rs 3 per unit hike in power tariff. “Not just the households, but the state’s economy will be hit with the yesterday’s decision of the Punjab Cabinet”, said Laddi, adding that the small traders would be the worst hit. The party leaders, including Kartarpur halqa incharge Rajinder Singh, Nakodar in-charge Dr Navjot Dahiya, ex-Senior Deputy Mayor Surinder Kaur, excouncillors Jasleen Sethi, Mandeep Jassal, Vijay Dakoha, Pawan Kumar and Sherry Kalsi urged the ruling AAP to withdraw its decision of fuel hike for the welfare of the masses. — TNS MLA, DC take stock of Sodal Mela preparations Tribune News Service Jalandhar, September 6 MLA Raman Arora and DC Dr Himanshu Aggarwal today reviewed preparedness for the upcoming Sri Sidh Baba Sodal Mela. They said the district administration would make elaborate arrangements to facilitate the pilgrims converging to pay obeisance at Sri Sidh Baba Sodal Temple on September 17. Presiding over a meeting with various organisations and departments here today, the MLA and the DC said the district administration would make foolproof arrangements to ensure that the pilgrims coming to this holy place for paying homage did not face inconvenience. They said the fair was an important event in the region and every effort must be made to ensure that pilgrims offered prayers in a smooth and hassle-free manner. They reviewed security arrangements, traffic plan, cleanliness around the temple premises, potable water, mobile toilets, deployment of medical teams, etc. During the meeting, it was decided that the General Manager of the Punjab Roadways would be asked to make buses available to ferry pilgrims to the shrine and the PWD would ensure proper safety of pilgrims by inspecting stages and swings to be installed during the fair. To ensure cleanliness around the temple premises, Labourers paint the road divider on Friday ahead of Sodal Mela in Jalandhar. PHOTO SARABJIT SINGH ROADWAYS BUSES FOR PILGRIMS ■ The roadways will make buses available to ferry pilgrims to the shrine around the temple by lifting the garbage on time ■ The civic body will also make adequate arrangements for the supply of potable water and setting up of temporary public toilets ■ The police are asked to ensure proper surveillance, announcement system, traffic management, route plan and traffic diversion ■ The MC will depute Safai Sewaks to ensure cleanliness in and it was decided that the Municipal Corporation, Jalandhar (MCJ), would depute Safai Sewaks round the clock in rotation and proper cleanliness must be ensured in and around the temple by lifting the garbage on time. Similarly, the civic body would also make adequate arrangements for the supply of potable water and installation of temporary public toilets. Officials of the MC were asked to ensure proper lighting in and around the temple premises. Likewise, the police were asked to ensure proper surveillance, announcement system, traffic management, route plan and traffic diversion, besides others. The Health Department would depute its teams along with ambulances during the fair to impart health services to people and the PSPCL would ensure interrupted power during the fair by making adequate arrangements for power backup, besides fixing dangling wires. Snatchers at it again, injure Rain plays spoilsport for block-level games Athletics events, football the hand of auto driver matches put off Jalandhar, September 6 Almost eight days after Sunny, a 24year-old cable company employee’s hand was chopped off by snatchers, a similar case has reportedly came to light with an autorickshaw driver near the Ram Nagar railway crossing. Dinesh Kumar was waylaid by some bike-borne men last night who tried to snatch his phone and cash. When the victim resisted, the accused attacked the auto driver and his hand got badly injured and had a deep cut. ACP (North) Sheetal Singh said the police received information late night about the incident. “We will record his statement. CCTV camera footages are being checked to find out the accused,” he said. It was in the evening when the victim was found by the police and they recorded his statement. Until then he had not registered any complaint with the police. Gurmukh Singh, SHO, said his Tribune News Service Injured Dinesh Kumar in Jalandhar. team had gone to Kumar’s house to know what exactly had happened. “We will act according to his complaint,” he said. — TNS Jalandhar, September 6 A heavy spell of rain in the morning for the past two days has affected the Khedan Watan Punjab Dian events being held at block-level. Athletics events and football matches were scheduled to be held at Doaba Khalsa School on Ladowali Road this morning, but the teams were sent back as the ground swamped with rainwater. While it had rained heavily for about an hour starting around 10 am yesterday, the downpour had started around 7:30 am today and the games could not even get started by that time. It rained heavily for more than 90 minutes, making all arrangements go haywire. Even the huge mats used to cover the ground soaked in the rain. In rural Jalandhar, the games, however, were held as per schedule. Block-level games continued as per schedule in Rurka Kalan, Lohian and Mehatpur blocks, said District Sports Officer Gurpreet Singh. In Mehatpur block, Government Senior Secondary School Udhowal team won the first prize, followed by Sri Hargobindpur Sports Club Mehatpur and Bet Khalsa School Mehatpur. in U-14 boys 60 m race held at Lohian, Damanpreet Singh of Jalandhar Public School Lohian emerged as the winner, followed by Kulbir Singh of Akal Academy Galaxy Convent School Lohian and Pawandeep Singh of BBK International School. In U-14 girls race, Sayema of Sant Avtar S Memorial Sr Secondary School was the fastest runner. Second position was bagged by Hargundeep Kaur of Akal Academy Convent School Lohian and third position went to Sonampreet Kaur of Jalandhar Public School Lohian. A labourer takes away a wet mat from the inundated athletics grounds of Doaba Khalsa School, the venue for Khedan Watan Punjab Dian, in Jalandhar on Friday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: SARABJIT SINGH Ram Nagar residents battle clogged drains, waterlogging blues Tribune News Service Jalandhar, September 6 Ram Nagar residents in the city have been grappling with sewage woes and waterlogging due to rain. On August 31, the residents held a protest at Chandan Nagar RUB because of the problems. They said it was strange that even after several protests, the MC didn’t pay any heed to the problem. Bhupinder Kumar said, “We have been living with this issue for so long that at times it doesn’t even bother us. But that doesn’t mean that we deserve to live that way.” Suman Devi, another resident, said rain scared her. “Mere one hour rain can cre- ate numerous problems. It takes hours for the water to get drained,” she said. It was difficult to send their wards to the school in such conditions. Gian Chand, former councillor of the area, while talking to mediapersons, said he had met the MC Commissioner on this issue before the monsoon started. “We have been holding dharnas. How can they be so ignorant about this serious matter. I don’t understand,” he said. The residents said they often got dirty drinking water too. “Aren’t we important for them,” asked an enraged resident. DC Dr Himanshu Aggarwal recently issued strict directives to the civic bodies, asking these to ensure swift drainage of rainwater in the city. In a written order, Dr Aggarwal directed the Jalandhar Municipal Corporation, Improvement Trust, Jalandhar, and the Additional DC (Urban Development) to clear all blockages across drainage points on roads. He laid stress on the cleanliness of drainage points on a war-footing. The DC emphasised the need for prompt action, instructing the departments to remove encroachments, obstructing drainage points to ensure the swift disposal of rainwater. He underscored the importance of maintaining an effective drainage system to prevent waterlogging, which can cause inconvenience to residents. c m y b The waterlogged street of Ram Nagar in Jalandhar is a nuisance for residents. 35 vehicles challaned for wrong parking Hoshiarpur, September 6 The Hoshiarpur police today conducted a special drive against wrong parking on the roads here. Police teams, led by Palwinder Singh, DSP Special , Branch, took a round of various roads and commercial areas in the city along with a team of traffic police. As many as 35 wrongly parked vehicles were challaned. Also four e-rickshaws and an MUV were impounded. The DSP said challans would be issued for wrongly parked vehicles in the city so that people do not face traffic snarls. — OC