23122024-LT-01.qxd 12/23/2024 12:41 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune YOUTH CONG WORKERS PROTEST TRAFFIC CHALLANS ADITI GOVITRIKAR PLAYS MOTHER IN MISMATCHED 3 Youth Congress activists and traders held a protest against alleged harassment by traffic police. P3 She believes entertainment industry is witnessing a remarkable diversity in the roles offered to women. P4 » DHILLON SHARES EVIDENCE IN ONGOING FEUD WITH DOSANJH AP Dhillon recently accused Diljit of blocking him on social media. He shared ‘proof’ to back his claim. P4 » » FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY MAX 21°C | MIN 7°C YESTERDAY MAX 22°C | MIN 6°C SUNSET MONDAY 5.28 PM SUNRISE TUESDAY 7:16 AM MONDAY | 23 DECEMBER 2024 | LUDHIANA Talks on for coalition to form new House No party got majority in the civic body elections; Mayor most likely from ruling Aam Aadmi Party Manav Mander Tribune News Service Ludhiana, December 22 Though the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) emerged as the party with the largest share of seats, it fell short of seven seats to prove its majority in the MC elections. Since no party has the absolute majority, talks are on for coalition to form the next MC House in Ludhiana and now the big question is, from which party will be the next Mayor of Ludhiana? The next Mayor will be chosen by coalition. Since AAP has the highest majority, the Mayor will most likely be from AAP but the posts of Deputy Mayor and Senior Deputy Mayor can go to the party with whom the coalition will be done. Madan Lal Bagga, MLA, North, said the people have again chosen AAP “We are . confident of forming the House and hopeful that we will garner support. Many winning candidates are in contact with us and soon, we will form the House. The main aim is the development of Ludhiana and keeping this in mind, like- minded people will get together to form the MC House,” he said. Randhir Sibia, husband of Independent candidate Ratanjit Kaur Sibia, came to Cong candidate Raj Kumar Raju from Ward 8 and AAP’s Aradhana Atwal (right) from Ward 89 celebrate their victory in the MC elections in Ludhiana. PHOTO: INDERJEET VERMA meet Bagga on Sunday. While West MLA Gurpreet Gogi’s wife Dr Sukhchain Kaur and Central MLA Ashok Prashar’s wife Meenu Prashar lost the elections from Ward 61 and 77, respectively, Bagga’s son Aman Bagga Khurana won from Ward 94 defeating INC’s Resham Singh and AAP Atam Nagar MLA Kulwant Singh Sidhu’s son Yuvraj Singh Sidhu won from Ward 50 by defeating INC candidate Parik Sharma. Now, both Bagga and Sidhu are in the race for the post of Mayor while the name of senior leader Amrit Varsha Ram- pal, who is a close aide of Gogi, is also making rounds. Low turnout In the 2018 elections, Ludhiana witnessed 59.14 per cent polling while this year, it dropped to 46.95 per cent. The new ward delimitation, due to which voters were unable to find their names in the voters’ lists, is also being cited as one of the reasons behind the low turnout. Many voters were unable to find their names in the lists when they went to cast their votes at polling booths. Voter slips were also not distributed this time, which led to the chaos. SEAT DISTRIBUTION AAP INC BJP SAD Independent 41 30 19 2 3 Big feat for BJP: Bittu BJP MP Ravneet Singh Bittu said both Gogi and Parashar’s wives have lost the elections, which clearly indicates people’s bent of mind. Earlier, the BJP had coalition with the SAD and it got 10 seats while this was the first time that it fought alone and managed to win 19 seats in the Ludhiana 3 Independents may be game changers Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, December 22 Three Independent candidates have managed to secure victory in the Municipal Corporation elections. Now, all eyes of political parties such as the Aam Aadmi Party, Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are on these candidates as they may be game changers. Sources maintained that leaders of the prominent political parties had already started approaching them to take them into party fold. Ratanjit Kaur, wife of Randhir Sibia, from Ward 1 had secured win by getting 2,115 votes while the runner-up candidate, Neelam, from the Congress got 1,518 votes. The winning margin between them was just of 597 votes. Sibia had joined the Congress along with the Lok Insaaf Party chief Simranjit Singh Bains. He had been demanding Congress ticket for his wife but a former party MLA opposed against giving ticket to her. Following which, the woman had filed nomination papers as an Independent candidate. Deepa Rani from Ward 11 secured 2,332 votes while the runner-up candidate of the BJP Gulshan Kaur got 1,471 votes. The winning margin was 861. Another Independent candidate Monica Jaggi achieved victory by securing 2,195 votes while Ravinder Kaur of AAP secured 1,513 votes. The winning margin turned out to be 682 votes. Notably, Monica Jaggi was given the ticket by the BJP from Ward 82 but she wanted to contest from Ward 83. Since the party had denied her ticket from Ward 83, she had filed nomination paper from the ward where she and her husband had a lot of clout. Pertinently, nomination papers of the BJP candidate from Ward 83 were rejected due to some shortcomings and the party had later announced support for Monica Jaggi, which also played an important role in securing victory for her. Sources revealed that the MLA of the ruling party, Madan Lal Bagga, and Ratanjit’s husband Randhir Sibia had a meeting and the MLA tried to convince him to support the ruling party to form the House. So far, Sibia has not opened his cards. It would be known later whether he would offer support to AAP or not. “Yes I have come to meet the MLA as I have old relations with him. I even met Bagga prior to the elections. About my support to AAP it will be revealed later, , I have been serving people from years and will take a decision after discussing with my supporters,” Sibia told mediapersons. Pertinently, AAP won 41 seats, Congress got 30, BJP secured 19, SAD got only two while three seats won by Independent candidates. To form a House, any party requires 48 seats but none of the party has secured required numbers to prove majority. MC poll, which is a big achievement. The Congress came down to 30 from 63 and these figures clearly indicate that the BJP was getting stronger in the city. Will never join hands with AAP, says Warring PPCC president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said the Congress would never join hands with AAP “We have 30 . seats and there are many more possibilities and the party will also present claim to form the House,” he said. Women to play major role This time, 50 per cent seats Missing man found murdered Ludhiana, December 22 A man went missing on December 18 was found murdered. His body was found at Sujatwal village in Meharban. The complainant, Anil Kumar, of Noorwala village told the police that on December 18 his brother Vijay Kumar had gone to buy vegetables on his e-rickshaw and he did not return home. On December 19, they came to know that a body was found at Machhi Colony in Sujatwal village. They went to the place and identified the body of the victim. He said his brother was brutally murdered by unidentified miscreants by slitting his throat and the victim’s body also had sharp injuries. The police should arrest the culprits as soon as possible. — TNS were reserved for women and they managed a share of 53 per cent of the seats in the elections. Of the total 95 seats, 51 women candidates have won. Now, the question is they will be working independently or will just remain as a face behind their husbands who will run the show. Of the 51 women candidates who won the elections, 21 are homemakers. Many wards were reserved for women, which were represented by men earlier, due to ward delimitation this time. In many such cases, wives of former councillors fought the elections. Former INC MLA Surinder Dawar’s daughter-in-law Shalu Dawar won from Ward 85 by defeating AAP’s Sonaf while Deepika Bhalla, wife of former councillor Gagandeep Sunny Bhalla, a close aide of Ashu, won from Ward 69 by defeating BJP’s Mala Dhanda. BJP leader Inder Aggarwal’s wife Manju Gupta won from Ward 81 by defeating INC’s Pooja Sharma and INC leader Pankaj Sharma’s wife Sonal Sharma won from Ward 59 by defeating AAP’s Manpreet Kaur. Seven animals die as fire breaks out in shanties Ludhiana, December 22 A major fire broke out in shanties in Garhi Tarkhana village in Machhiwara Sahib late on Saturday night, destroying over 12 shanties and leaving countless people without belongings. The blaze resulted in the loss of seven animals, including six goats and a cow, as well as significant damage to personal property, including a motorcycle, cash, ration and clothing. Eyewitnesses reported that the fire started around midnight, with one of the residents, Sonu, telling how he got up due to heat of the fire and managed to escape with his family. Despite efforts to control the blaze, it quickly spread, engulfing multiple shanties and reducing them to ashes. The incident also affected local businesses, with two shops, including a clothing store owned by Sita Ram Mukhiya and a small clothing and shoe shop, being destroyed. The fire brigade arrived and managed to contain the fire but it had caused extensive damage by then. In the aftermath of the fire, the affected families appealed for assistance from the administration. Many suspect that the fire might had been intentionally set. They are demanding a police investigation in the incident. — TNS Shortage of staff, poor infrastructure hit health services hard pandemic are gathering dust for want of trained staff. Manav Mander Tribune News Service Ludhiana, December 22 Ludhiana’s Health Department saw various ups and downs during 2024. It continued to face the problem of shortage of staff and infrastructure while the announcement for setting up of an ESIC medical college came as a ray of hope for the city. THE LOWS Patient shares bed with a corpse While last year the death of a patient after falling off the stretcher rocked the Civil Hospital and caused stir in the institution, this year in April, the hospital was again in the news for a wrong reason. A patient admitted to the emergency ward was forced to share bed with a corpse for more than 30 minutes. The incident again brought to light the poor state of affairs at the hospital and the shortage Expired medicines found at Samrala hospital Patients faced a tough time due to the indefinite strike by PCMS docs in city in September. FILE of staff and infrastructure. Staff shortage continues The hospital continued to grapple with staff shortage but no initiative was taken by the department to overcome the issue. The emergency ward of the hospital also continue to face shortage of staff. The hospital is working without a forensic expert, one radiologist, one medicine specialist, one surgeon and otter departments are also facing acute staff shortage, including nursing and Class IV . ICU not operational During his visit to the city on various instances during this year, Health Minister Balbir Singh continued to repeat the same old promise of making the ICU at the Civil Hospital functional and also announced to start neonatal intensive care by January 2025 but only time will tell if these promises will be fulfilled or not. He has been making these promises since last year. The intensive care unit, along with ventilators, set up during the Covid-19 c m y b The callous attitude of staff at the Samrala Civil Hospital became palpitable as expired medicines worth lakhs were found lying in a storeroom in September. The medicines had expired in 2021-2022. These are sanctioned according to the hospital’s demand but how medicines in such large quantities remained unused, was the question that went unanswered. Indefinite strike by PCMS doctors Punjab Civil Medical Services (PCMS) doctors went on an indefinite strike in September which last for seven days and crippled the government healthcare sector completely. The unresolved issues of doctors included stalled Assured Career Progressions scheme, pending 6th CPC arrears and security at workplace, among other demands. Patients had a difficult time during the strike. THE HIGHS City to get medical college The thing to cheer about amid the poor medical infrastructure was the announcement of the city getting its first government medical college. The new medical college will be established by the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) under the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment with the intake of 50 UG MBBS seats. The administration has shortlisted three sites for the setting up the college. Hospital starts functioning Finally after 10 years, the Urban Primary Health Centre (UPHC) located at the Civil Surgeon’s office was made operational. Currently, ESIC dispensary and office of the Health Department were locat- ed here. The health minister inaugurated the hospital in December. Though 30-bed hospital was started at the UPHC located at the Civil Surgeon’s office in December but staff of the hospital is on deputation. Only time will tell if the department is able to sustain the working of the hospital or not. Foot clinic at CMCH A vascular and diabetic foot clinic was inaugurated at the Christian Medical College and Hospital. Among various complications associated with diabetes, diabetic foot is one of the most debilitating. First surrogacy case conducted at DMCH The Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) in October initiated the first-ever surrogacy case under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021. The landmark case was conducted under the expert supervision of Dr Ashima Taneja. WINNERS OF 95 WARDS Ward 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 Candidate Party Ratanjit Kaur Ind Sangeeta Kalsi INC Palvi Vinayak BJP Sukhdev Bawa INC Lakhwinder Chaudhary AAP Jagdish Lal INC Ravinder Kaur INC Raj Kumar INC Deeksha BJP Pardeep Sharma AAP Deepa Rani Ind Harjinder Paul INC Inderjit Kaur AAP Sukhmail Singh AAP Jaspreet Kaur AAP Ashwani Sharma AAP Ruby BJP Anil Bhardwaj BJP Nidhi Gupta AAP Chatarveer Singh SAD Anita BJP Jaspal Singh Grewal AAP Shoba Sharma BJP Gurmeet Singh INC Sukhjinder Kaur INC Gaurav INC Jasvir Kaur BJP Amarjit Singh AAP Kamal Manoucha AAP Nikku Bharti AAP Harmandeep Kaur INC Jaswinder Singh INC Kuldeep Kaur BJP Rajesh Mishra BJP Prabhpreet Kaur AAP Satnam Singh INC Saroj Manan AAP Satpal Singh INC Mandeep Kaur INC Prince Johar AAP Mamta Rani INC Jagmeet Singh INC Baljeet Kaur INC Sohan Singh AAP Parmjit Kaur INC Sukhdev Singh INC Usha Rani AAP Rakhwinder Gabria SAD Anita Sharma BJP Yuvraj Sidhu AAP Komalpreet AAP Nirmal Kaira INC Mehak Chadha AAP Dilraj Singh INC Amrit Varsha Rampal AAP Tanvir Dhaliwal AAP Veeran Bedi AAP Satnam Singh AAP Sonal Sharma INC Gurpreet Singh AAP Parminder Kaur INC Sunil Maudgill BJP Maninder Ghuman AAP Indu Munish Shah AAP Navdeep Kaur INC Rohit Sikka BJP Sharanjit Kaur AAP Pushpinder Bhanot AAP Deepika Sunny Bhalla INC Suman Verma BJP Nandini Jairath AAP Kapil Kumar AAP Ruchi Gulati BJP Iqbal Singh INC Simranpreet Kaur AAP Mukesh Khatri BJP Poonam Ratra BJP Surinder Kaur AAP Bhavneet Kaur BJP Gourav BJP Manju Gupta BJP Arun Sharma INC Monika Jaggi Ind Sham Sunder Malhotra INC Shallu Dawar INC Manjit S Dhillon AAP Gurjeet Kaur AAP Neeraj Ahuja AAP Aradhana Atwal AAP Rakesh Prashar AAP Tejinder Kaur AAP Narinder Bhardwaj AAP Bhupinder Kaur INC Aman Kumar AAP Kashmir Kaur AAP