17092024-JTR-01.qxd 9/16/2024 10:42 PM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar tribune GOVT PLANNING TO SET UP ONE MODERN STADIUM IN EACH DIST ON ROADS FOR WEEKS, ABOHAR SAFAI SEWAKS YET TO GET PAY SHOGUN LEADS THE EMMY PACK WITH 18 AWARDS MP Raj Kumar Chabbewal opens Khedan Watan Punjab Diyan' districtlevel competitions. P2 Thet took out a rally as their strike entered its second week, protesting the non-payment of salaries. P3 The Bear stands second with 11, while Hacks wins Best Comedy Series Award. P4 » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 35°C | MIN 25°C YESTERDAY MAX 34°C | MIN 25°C SUNSET TUESDAY 6.30 PM SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 6:13 AM » TUESDAY | 17 SEPTEMBER 2024 | JALANDHAR Firm to compensate farmers for losses due to paddy seed mixing INBRIEF MAN HELD FOR DESECRATION Phagwara: Activists of the Valmiki community sat on a dharna in protest against the alleged defiling of a banner of Bhagwan Valmiki here today. The police have arrested a man for allegedly defiling a banner related to the Bhagwan Valmiki Shobha Yatra by smearing mud on it on Monday. The banner was displayed near the Naiyan Chowk temple and the act of desecration led to a protest by local residents, who blocked the road. SP Rupinder Kaur Bhatti arrived at the scene to pacify the demonstrators. OC 2 ARRESTED FOR MURDER BID Phagwara : The police have arrested two persons and booked five others, including a woman, on the charges of attempting murder of a villager. Gurpreet Singh, a resident of Warra Kali village in Ferozepur, complained to the police that the accused attacked him with sharp-edged weapons and seriously injured and threatened him on September 9 at Lohian Khas. The complainant said Krishna instigated her brother Gurwinder to attack him as she quarrelled with him on September 13 . OC TWO BOOKED FOR KIDNAPPING Phagwara: The police have booked two persons on the charge of kidnapping a 75year-old man. Daljit Singh of Kang Sahibu village complained to the police that his friend Mohindar Singh was going by his car to pay obeisance at a religious place when two car-borne accused waylaid Darshan Singh on the Nakodar-Jalandhar road and kidnapped him. A case has been registered against the accused. OC MAN BOOKED FOR ROAD OBSTRUCTION Phagwara: The police have booked a villager on the charge of obstructing a link road. The accused had been identified as Manwindar of Kassupur village. Baljit Kaur of the same village complained to the police that the accused had thrown garbage on the road and her husband's motorcycle slipped and he sustaining serious injuries. A case under Sections 285 (danger or obstruction in a public way or line of navigation )125-A and 125-B (causing hurt) of the BNS has been registered. OC LAHAN SEIZED FROM VILLAGER Phagwara: The police have arrested a villager on the charge of brewing illicit country-made liquor.The accused has been identified as Hansa Singh, a resident of Raipur Gujran village. As much as 200 litre of lahan (raw liquor) and utensils for brewing were recovered from his possession. A case has been registered against the accused. OC PEDDLER HELD UNDER NDPS ACT Phagwara: The Shahkot police have arrested a drug peddler on the charge of selling heroin.Twenty gram of heroin was seized from the possession of the accused Manoj Kumar, a resident of Azad Nagar, Shahkot. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered against the accused. OC Aakanksha N Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Employees of the Jalandhar Improvement Trust stage a protest over the registration of FIRs against former Executive Officer and trust employees in Jalandhar on Monday. PHOTO: MALKIAT SINGH 6 JIT plots illegally allotted for a song Jalandhar, September 16 Farmers from Kapurthala, who had sown the SR 110 variety of paddy, have been suffering losses. The Tribune had recently highlighted that one of the farmer Gurnoor Singh from Nawanpind Gatewal village in Kapurthala, who had cultivated paddy on 70 acres, started noticing that while the grains were still in panicle initiation state in some parts of the field, the grains almost got matured (milk stage) in the remaining area. This alerted him and soon he got to know that many other farmers were experiencing the same problem. They all fear major losses now as it will affect the yield and quality of the crop. On checking, the Agriculture Department found mixing of seeds of an unknown short duration variety with the one that was sown by the farmers. The department has also cancelled the licence of the seed store owner and sent a show-cause notice to the company that manufactured this variety. Today, the Punjab Kisan Union (Baghi) that was raising the issue with the authorities met the Director Agriculture in Chandigarh. Gurdeep Singh, general secretary, said the company that had produced the variety would give compensation to the farmers who have suffered losses. “We met the Director and he assured us that that the company is ready to pay the amount to the farmers,” said Gurdeep. The problem has been faced by some farmers in the Gurdaspur area also. The Chief Agriculture Officer, Gurdaspur, had earlier said farmers had complained of this problem. Many farmers from Nawanpind Gatewal, Mithra, Chotta Boolpur, Dham and a few other villages from Kapurthala had sown a long duration variety (SR 110) on over 800 acres. The seeds had been bought from a local store. But they were shocked to see a difference in the growth of paddy plants in the same field. This variety is not recommended by PAU, said Agriculture Department officials. The farmers approached the Chief Agriculture Officer (CAO), Kapurthala, after which a five-member committee was constituted. Balbir Chand, CAO, Kapurthala, said: “On checking, it was found that there was mixing of seeds. I have cancelled the licence of the seed store owner and have also sent show-cause notice to the company, which has produced SR 110. We are taking up the matter seriously. Now I will be making teams to do crop cutting experiments to assess the actual loss.” Kuldeep Singh from Nawanpind Gatewal, who sowed the seed on 14 acres, had said: “The grains, which have got matured, will shed soon and others will take some days to mature. We will suffer losses.” Sodal Temple illuminated Staff involved: Chairman; employees hold dharna Tribune News Service Jalandhar, September 16 Chairman of the Jalandhar Improvement Trust and Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson Jagtar Singh Sanghera has said he has unearthed another scam pertaining to the illegal allotment and registry of six prime properties of the JIT for a paltry sum. He has alleged that the JIT staff are involved in the scam. Sources in the JIT said these properties included three plots of 500 sq yards, two 200 sq yards and one 100 sq yards in Surya Enclave and Surya Enclave Extension. Three 500 sq yards plots, which was worth Rs 1.5 crore each, had been sold out for just Rs 7 lakh to Rs 22 lakh, bringing a huge financial loss to the JIT. He said another case of fraudulent sale of a flat of the JIT too had come to his notice in which a former chairperson of the trust was also reportedly involved. Sanghera has said these properties should have been legally sold out via auction. Instead, they were allotted for some financial favours and their registries had also been quickly effected. He said the entire process was carried out in March 2022 when AAP was set to come to power. Sanghera has said a senior assistant and a junior assistant in the office had played a role in getting the whole process done. Documents pertaining to the deal were found missing in the files and that he had to procure all details from the tehsil complex to know their status. He said he would soon start the process to restore the properties to the trust and cancel all shady allotments. The JIT Chairman had recently got two FIRs registered against his staff and a former executive officer for wrongly getting registries of properties done. He said he had already written to the Additional Chief Secretary and Director of the Local Bodies Department about the alleged fraud in selling out seven prime properties of the JIT. Meanwhile, to oppose stern action by the JIT Chairman, the staff today held a pendown strike in the office. Sanghera has said he had given ample opportunities to the employees of the trust to clarify on the matter, failing which he had to take harsh measures against them. As the two-day traditional Sodal fair is underway, devotees turn up in lakhs to seek blessings from the deity at the Sodal Temple, which is all decked up in Jalandhar. Couples are bringing infants and offering milk, sweets and mathi to the deity. Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the safety of the devotees. TRIBUNE PHOTO: SARABJIT SINGH Sr V-P of Kartarpur MC Two held with bikes, phones MP lays stone of road elected unanimously Tribune News Service Kartarpur, September 16 Manjinder Kaur got unanimously elected as the senior vice-president and Sham Sunder Pal as the vice-president of the Kartarpur Municipal Council here on Monday. The election was conducted under the supervision of SDM, Jalandhar-2, Balbir Raj Singh, appointed as convener by the DC of Jalandhar. Councillors and officers, including Executive Officer Randeep Singh Waraich, AME Gagandeep Singh and accountant Gurlal Singh were also present. Kartarpur MLA and Local Bodies Minister Balkar Singh congratulated the newly elected leaders and team of councilors. — TNS Jalandhar, September 16 The Jalandhar Commissionerate Police has arrested two snatchers and recovered two motorcycles and three mobile phones. Commissioner of Police Swapan Sharma said a police team spotted two suspicious youths on a motorcycle at TPoint, Leather Complex, Basti Bawa Khel. On inquiry, the police recovered a stolen phone from them which they had snatched from the house of Lakhwinder Singh in Tara Singh Avenue. The accused Akash and Munish of Basti Sheikh had been arrested. The CP said during further investigation, the police also recovered two Splendor motorcycles stolen from different places by them. He said in total, the police had recovered two motorcycles and three mobile phones from them. Sharma said an FIR had been lodged in this connection on September 12 under Sections 304, 3(5) BNS at Police Station Basti Bawa Khel. The CP said these accused were involved in a number of snatching incidents and detailed investigation into the matter was going on. Hoshiarpur, September 16 Accelerating the pace of development in the Chabbewal Assembly constituency, MP Rajkumar Chabbewal laid the foundation stone for development projects of Rs 45.19 lakh. Dr Ishank was especially present with him. These schemes include the construction of Shri Beri Saheb Wali road and a bridge from village Panjoda to Nadalon. The biggest scheme among the works is the construction of Shri Beri Saheb Wali road at a cost of Rs 28.19 lakh. MP Chabbewal said this road would provide easy movement for residents of the area and resolve traffic problems. Chabbewal also laid the stone of a bridge to be built from village Panjoda to Nadalon at a cost of Rs 17 lakh.— OC Activists protest axing of heritage trees at CS office Dhiman takes over as Nawanshahr DC Aparna Banerji Tribune News Service Jalandhar, September 16 Environmental activist Navneet Bhullar along with her colleagues and co-activists protest felling of over 20 trees in the compound of the erstwhile office of the Civil Surgeon, Jalandhar, where Critical Care Unit will come up. Most of the trees have already been axed. The activists said they wouldn’t allow the remaining five trees to be cut. They have also written to the NGT. “Trees are carbon sequesters, vital to biodiversity and are heat absorbers but today, on World Ozone Day, we see this carnage!” said a distraught Bhullar, a long time advocate for the ban on plastic. The CS office premises had old mango, amaltas, jamun, neem, banyan and frangipani trees and the work on their cutting began about a week ago. NGO Action Group Against Plastic Pollution (AGAPP) members Dr Pallavi Khanna, Dr Navneet Bhullar, Dr Pawandeep Singh, Dr Manmehak along with Khalsa College professors, social activist Tejaswi Minhas and youth leaders gathered to express shock at the “murder” of heritage trees. Tejaswi said, “I have spoken with the Forest Department, which was asked to assess the trees. The PWD gave permission to cut these. But how can they? I’m approaching the National Green Tribunal today.” Environmental activists stage a protest at the Civil Hospital, Jalandhar, against tree felling. c m y b Nawanshahr, September 16 Rajesh Dhiman, a 2014 batch IAS officer, assumed the charge as Deputy Commissioner, Nawanshahr, today. Earlier, he was posted as DC of Ferozepur. He has also served as the Director of Sports and Youth Services Department. Dhiman has the experience of rendering excellent services in various civil administrative positions. Talking to the media, he said he was proud to hold the position in Nawanshahr, which is known as the land of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. “No stone will be left unturned for the all-round development of the district and the residents will not be allowed to face any problem for their work in departments,” Dhiman said. In a preliminary meeting with officials and staff, the DC asked them to perform their duty zealously to ensure that the benefits of pro-people schemes were percolated to the people at the grassroots level. He was given a guard of honour by a police contingent on arrival at the District Administrative Complex before taking over the charge. Immediately after assuming the charge, Dhiman visited ancestral village of Shaheed-eAzam Bhagat Singh Khatkar Kalan and paid rich tributes at his memorial. — TNS