27022025-ATR-01.qxd 2/26/2025 11:41 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune DEVELOPMENT WORKS HAVE COME TO A HALT: EX-MLA FORECAST GENERALLY CLOUDY MAX 24°C | MIN 14°C YESTERDAY MAX 24°C | MIN 16°C I’VE BROKEN MY OWN BOUNDARIES, SAYS PARMISH Former Khemkaran MLA Sukhpal Singh Bhullar called upon party workers to protest against the AAP government. P2 » SIKH ARTS & FILM FESTIVAL MARKS ITS 25TH YEAR I’ve broken my own boundaries and done things differently, says singeractor Parmish Verma. P4 Against backdrop of performances, Sikhlens: Sikh Arts & Film Festival began celebrations of its 25th year. P4 » » SUNSET THURSDAY 6.26 PM SUNRISE FRIDAY 6:58 AM THURSDAY | 27 FEBRUARY 2025 | AMRITSAR Rintu appointed AIT Chairman Tribune News Service Amritsar February 26 Former Amritsar Mayor Karamjit Singh Rintu has been appointed Chairman of the Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT). Rintu had joined the Aam Aadmi Party after leaving the Congress before the Punjab Assembly elections in 2022. However, despite his significant role in the victory of the Aam Aadmi Party, he was not assigned any constitutional post until now. Rintu has experience in local governance. He served as Mayor of the Amritsar Municipal Corporation and as the ViceChairman of the All-India Council of Mayors (AICM). During his mayoral tenure, he supported office-bearers of illegal clubs inside historic Ram Bagh, instead of implementation of the memorandum of understanding between the Archaeological Survey of India and the Municipal Corporation. His decision to leave the Congress and join the Aam Aadmi Party was seen as a significant political shift, but he failed to get any major post. He was reportedly aspirant for the ticket for the Lok Sabha elections, but the Aam Aadmi Party choose Kuldeep Dhaliwal, who lost to Gurjeet Singh Aujla of the Congress, by a big margin. The new AIT Chairman, Rintu would oversee urban planning, housing, and infrastructure projects in Amritsar, while aiming to improve civic amenities and speed up development works in the holy city. 16 flying squads monitor PSEB Class XII exam centres in&district Most students indulge in mass copying in English math exams Neha Saini Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 26 The Class XII Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) examinations are underway. The board and the District Education Department have constituted 16 teams of flying squads to conduct inspections of all examination centres in the district. Five of these teams conducted inspections at 11 centres on February 24. The core subject exams for Class XII are yet to be conducted. The general English exam is scheduled for February 28. The district education office has not designated any centre as “sensitive” which means that cases of cheating reported during the board exams have been nil in the past three years. The District Examination Control Room in-charge Sukhpal Singh said flying squads authorised by the PSEB, Mohali, were carrying out inspections of various schools as the exams proceeded. “Teams from the Mohali office will also visit Amritsar centres that have previous track record of mass copying. This year 278 teams of flying squads will be monitoring exams throughout the state,” he said. District Education Officer Harbhagwant Singh, who joined a few months ago, said the control room would monitor all centres to ensure smooth conduct of exams. While this is what official records state, several private and affiliated schools in the district and Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, February 26 The police and officials of the Mining Department in a joint operation busted a gang involved in illegal mining from Sutlej river in the border area Jhugian Peeer Bakhash village on Tuesday night. The police impounded one poclain machine and four tipper trucks from the site. Yugraj Singh, Junior Engineer, Mining, Patti sub-divi- sion, said a team of the Mining Department and a police party led by ASI Gurmit Singh, in-charge of the Toot police post, checked the area of pit at Jungian Peer Bakhash village near the Sutlej river. The police found a poclain machine and four tipper trucks parked out of the area allotted area of the pit. Residents of the village alleged that illegal mining had made their normal life a miserable as the movement of tipper trucks broke link roads of villages and disturbed them at night. Inspector Gurcharan Singh, SHO, Patti Sadar police station, neither responded calls on his mobile phone nor messages sent on his WhatsApp number. The Patti Sadar police have registered a case under Sections 303 (2) and 61of the BNS and Sections under 21(1), 21 (4) and 4 (1) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act in this connection. Students appear in the Class XII PSEB exam at a school in Amritsar on Wednesday. adjoining district of Tarn Taran have gained notoriety for being a hub of mass copying during the PSEB board exams over the years. Cheating in private, affiliated schools In 2018, the then school education secretary Krishan Kumar had ordered conducting of the PSEB Class X and XII board exams under CCTV surveillance across 200 centres, including in Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Khemkaran Sahib. But that practice was suspended in the district for the current period. Post pandemic, cases of cheating in the PSEB Class X and XII boards dipped by 90 per cent. The last threeyear record from the district shows zero cases of cheating being reported. But the flip side of the coin is that there are still several private and affiliated schools, especially in the Baba Bakala, Ajnala, Chogawan cluster in Amritsar, that facilitate cheating as they promise 100 per cent results to their students. A senior PSEB official, shared that this practice was like an “open secret” in department circles. Ever since teacher’s Annual Confidential Report (ACR) have been connected with academic results of students, even teachers look the other way. “At several centres, that are known to get their students a promised 80 per cent and above results charging between Rs 50,000 to 80,000 for their “service”, invigilators help in “vocal copying” and inspection teams can do little to check this,” said the official. While the board has, at several occasions, threatened a counter action on such schools through cancellation of affiliation, the practice continues under wraps. Sources in the district administration say there is large-scale violation of rules in all schools. Open schools cannot admit students from outside district, but this is widely violated. In case of regular schools, they are reportedly large-scale dummy admissions. A teacher, working in a school in the Chogawan cluster said English and math were the two subjects in which most rural students struggle and indulge mass copying. “One of the reasons is shortage of teachers and desperation of most students to achieve minimum required marks to ensure a smooth visa process while they apply for migration,” the teacher said. Woman among two injured in firing at Rambali Chowk Amritsar, February 26 Panic gripped people at Rambali Chowk falling under the Vijay Nagar police post area here today afternoon after a firing incident left two persons, including a woman injured. One of the injured was identified as Amar, a resident of the Rambali Chowk area, while the identity of the injured woman was yet to be established. Amar sustained a bullet injury in his stomach, while the woman suffered a bullet injury on her hand. Injured Amar was rushed to a hospital where he is presently undergoing treatment. Senior police officials, including the Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP (North), Arvind Meena, reached the spot and started investigation. A preliminary probe revealed that Avinash Singh, Karan Sharma and Amar, all Gang involved in illegal sand mining busted in Tarn Taran The firearms and drones recovered from the Amritsar border belt on Wednesday. Two Turkey-made pistols, two drones seized by BSF Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 26 The Border Security Force (BSF) have recovered two pistols along with magazines and drones from the Amritsar border belt here in the last 24 hours. The BSF authorities said last night around 7.15pm, a search operation by troops led to the recovery of a black colour bag containing two Turkey-made pistols (Tisas Zigana) along with four magazines from a sugarcane fields adjacent to Ballaharwal border village. Another search operation around 9.20 pm at Khanwal village resulted in the recovery of a Chinese drone. Similarly, acting on tip-off jawans of the BSF recovered a China-made drone from Daoke village. The BSF lodged a complaint with the police regarding these recoveries after which three separate cases were registered in this regard. Dismissed constable’s police remand extended by two days Tribune News Service People gather outside salon at Rambali Chowk where miscreants opened fire in Amritsar on Wednesday. residents of Ram Bali Chowk, were standing near Babbu Salon shop. While Avinash went inside salon, Karan and Amar remained outside the shop. Avinash said two youth, who were inside saloon, sudden opened fire. One of the bullet hit woman’s hand, who was going back home after paying obeisance at a temple while another bullet hit Amar. The armed persons fled from the spot after the incident. The motive behind fir- ing was yet to be established, ACP Arvind Meena said, while adding that the accused had been identified and raids were on to nab them. Tilak Raj, who has a shop adjoining saloon, said people were standing outside when they suddenly heard sounds of firing. When Tilak came outside of his shop, he saw Amar falling on the ground and the injured woman. He said nobody knew who fired gunshots and for what purpose for doing so. — TNS Amritsar, February 26 The court has extended the police remand of dismissed constable Varinder Singh by two days. He was arrested on the charges of corruption on Monday for allegedly attempting to strike a deal for saving a drug peddler nabbed by the police. Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP) Vishaljit Singh is holding a probe into the matter under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Harpreet Singh Mander. The C Division SHO was shifted to the Police Lines after the incident came to light. Constable Varinder Singh was posted at the said police station. “A probe is on to find whether the constable has got criminal elements or drug peddlers released on earlier occasions or not,” said a police official on condition of anonymity. He said Deepu, who had been intermediating on behalf of the drug peddler, was yet to be arrested. A case under the Prevention of Corruption Act and relevant sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was registered against Varinder Singh after an audio clip of his interaction with drug peddler’s accomplices came to into the knowledge of Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar. On Sunday night, an audio clip had gone viral on social media. In the audio clip, Varinder Singh was allegedly demanding money from one Bunty through another person Deepu while assuring him to save Ajay Kumar, alias Billi, wanted in the NDPS Act case. Three including juvenile held with sedative pills, vials Railways diverts four trains for smooth operations Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 26 The Amritsar city police commissionerate busted a module involved in supplying intoxicating medicines in different parts of the city and arrested three persons, including a juvenile, in this connection. The police seized 22,300 intoxicating tablets along with 1,750 vials from suspects identified as Sukhraj Singh (23), Manpreet Singh and a juvenile. A case under the NDPS Act was registered against them and further probe was initiated to establish their backward and forward links. Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said four days ago the Ranjit Avenue police arrested Sukhraj Singh, alias Gori, a resident of Teda Kalan village in Ajnala along with a juvenile and recovered 700 sedative pills. The police also impounded the car in which they were travelling. Investigation revealed that juvenile’s father Om Parkash had a medical store in Teda Kalan village where he sold medicines illegally, the Police Commissioner said. “The accused is on the run after seizure of intoxicants,” the Police Commissioner added. Further interrogation revealed that the juvenile used to procure these medicines from Manpreet Singh, a resident of New Azad Nagar located on Sultanwind Road, and Shivam, who runs a medical store on Majitha Road. The police seized 1,750 vials from Manpreet’s residence apart from 21,660 sedative pills. The the Police Commissioner said Sukhraj had six cases of different nature, including sexual harassment, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and Arms Act registered against him. Similarly, Manpreet had one case of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and the Arms Act registered against him at the Sultanwind police station. c m y b Tribune News Service Amritsar, February 26 The Northern Railways has diverted four trains from the city station for technical reasons and smooth operationalisation of the train network. Railway officials said the Northern Railways decided to extend the periodicity of earlier notified diverted, short-terminated, short-originated and terminal change of trains from New Delhi to Delhi Junction and Hazrat Nizamuddin up to March 4. The schedule of trains affected was 14679 New Delhi-Amritsar via Delhi instead of New Delhi, originating at 1.50 pm. The Amritsar-New Delhi 14680 train will ply via Delhi instead of New Delhi terminating at 14.25. The Saharsa-Amritsar 12203 train will ply via Delhi instead of New Delhi. Similarly, 12204 AmritsarSaharsa will ply via Delhi instead of New Delhi. Passengers wait for train at the Amritsar railway station.