17042025-JTR-01.qxd 4/16/2025 11:08 PM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar tribune PROTESTS OVER CHARGESHEET AGAINST GANDHIS AR ON AI: MISUSE IN MUSIC SHOULD BE AVOIDED NAV BAJWA: TAKDEER WILL HIGHLIGHT ROLE OF ASTROLOGY It was part of its nationwide agitation terming action of ED case of political vendetta atCentre behest of Centre. P2 Oscar-winner AR Rahman says there are both good and bad aspects to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in music. P4 Nav shared in all his earnestness that growing up he was confused between astrology and astronomy. P4 » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 38°C | MIN 21°C YESTERDAY MAX 37°C | MIN 22°C SUNSET SATURDAY 6.57 PM SUNRISE FRIDAY 5:55 AM » THURSDAY | 17 APRIL 2025 | JALANDHAR Maqsudan Mandi vendors protest high parking rates, threaten stir INBRIEF NOTICE TO NINE SHOPKEEPERS Kapurthala: The Kapurthala Municipal Corporation has started taking a tough stand against those who do not pay property tax. MC Commissioner Anupam Kaler has issued notice to nine shopkeepers of Red Cross Market and Sadar Bazar and given them ultimatum to deposit outstanding property tax along with penalty and interest within three days. Orders have been issued to seal the shops if the amount is not deposited within stipulated time. TNS 2 ARRESTED FOR LOOTING GOLD Phagwara: The Nakodar police have arrested two persons on the charge of looting gold and silver jewellery from a woman. The accused have been identified as Sarban Singh, alias Akashdeep, a resident of Bhundarri village, Ludhiana, and Karan Singh, alias Karni, of Chak Tare Wala village, Moga. Surjit Kaur of Mohalla Sundar Nagar had complained to the police two looters barged into her house on April 3 night and looted ornaments and snatched her earrings and chain at the knife point. OC 'DRUG PEDDLER' ARRESTED Phagwara: The Mehatpur police have arrested a drug peddler on the charge of selling intoxicating tablets. Fifty tablets (loose) were seized from the possession of the accused Baldev Singh, alias Babbu, of Ladhuka Mandi. A case has been registered against the accused. oc TRANSFORMER 'THIEVES' HELD Phagwara: The police claimed to have busted a gang of thieves engaged in stealing farmers' transformers and arrested its three members. The accused have been identified as Sagar, Balveer Kumar and Veeru of Mohalla Santokh Nagar, Phillaur. Amrik Singh of Shampur village complained to the police that the accused and their four accomplices came to steal his transformer on April 15 early morning. Some were caught. A case has been registered against the accused. OC TWO BOOKED FOR ASSAULT Phagwara: The police have booked two villagers for assaulting a woman. The accused have been identified as Kulwant Singh and Amandeep Singh of Aanchak Pipply village. Seeto of Chak Pipply village complained to the police that the accused assaulted and injured her. A case under the BNS has been registered against the accused. OC MAN HELD FOR SELLING LIQUOR Phagwara: The Shahkot police have arrested a villager on the charge of selling illicit liquor. Twenty bottles of hooch were seized from the possession of the accused Ritik of Kakarr Kalan village. A case under the Punjab Excise Act has been registered against the accused. oc MARRIED WOMAN DIES BY SUICIDE Phagwara: A married woman died by suicide on Tuesday. The deceased has been identified as Ranni of Dhandowal village. The police handed over the body to the family after postmortem. oc Avneet Kaur Tribune News Service A damaged truck near Phagwara. One dead in two trucks’ collision, traffic hit on NH Our Correspondent PHAGWARA, APRIL 16 A deadly road accident involving two trucks disrupted vehicular traffic on the Phagwara-Jalandhar highway for over an hour early Wednesday morning. One person was killed and another seriously injured in the collision that occurred near the Chiherru bridge, 10 km from Phagwara. According to police sources, the incident took place when a Jalandhar-bound fruitladen truck reportedly jumped over the highway divider and collided head-on with a stone-laden truck coming from the opposite direction. The force of the impact was severe, leaving one of the trucks extensively damaged and debris scattered across both sides of the highway. The deceased has been identified as Gurjant Singh of Gagowal village in Amritsar district. He was declared dead at the scene. The injured Kuldeep Singh was unconscious and in a critical condition. He was shifted to the Civil Hospital. Witnesses said the driver of the fruit truck appeared to have dozed off while driving, resulting in the vehicle veering across the divider and crashing into oncoming truck. Traffic on the busy national highway came to a standstill following the crash, leading to long queues of stranded vehicles on both sides. Police and emergency services were quick to respond. Traffic police Inspector Aman Kumar Daveshwar reached the spot promptly and supervised the rescue operations. Jalandhar, April 16 A day after vegetable vendors and arhtiyas at Maqsudan Mandi staged a protest against the government and the market committee over ‘illegal’ parking charges on Tuesday, tensions escalated further today during a meeting that ended in chaos and intimidation. The meeting, called by Mandi Board officials and market committee chairman and secretary at their office to address vendor grievances before a memorandum was to be submitted to the DC for the Chief Minister jointly by vendors and arhityas, spiralled out of control when an argument broke out between arhtiyas and the contractor’s representatives. In a shocking turn, bouncers allegedly deployed by the contractor barged into the market office and, in the presence of ACP North, SHO and other officials, allegedly threatened arhtiyas and declared they would continue charging inflated parking fees — whether allowed or not, informed arhtiya Mahinderjit Singh Shunty, saying that this is nothing less than open hooliganism. He said, “Earlier, when the market committee managed parking, they allowed multiple entries since vehicles need to come in and out due to lack of a weighing point inside. Chaos erupts at the market committee office, Jalandhar, after arhtiyas and contractor come face to face over parking fee dispute. Now, Narinder Singh & Company brought new clause that didn’t allow multiple entries and hiked charges without any justification.” Shunty revealed that the entry fee for a Bolero, which was Rs 50 for 24 hours, has been increased to Rs 130 — and is now valid for only 12 hours. Vendors are forced to pay again if a vehicle reenters. For heavy vehicles like trucks and trolleys, the fee has jumped from Rs 150 to an outrageous Rs 600. “What profit is left for poor vegetable vendors when they’re forced to pay such extortionate amounts just to do their daily business?” he asked. He further said the vendor stalls which earlier cost Rs 100 per day and Rs 3,000 monthly, now cost Rs 400 per day and Rs 12,000 a month. “That’s not just unfair, it’s exploitation”, he added. Arhityas said since today’s meeting also failed and no outcome has been achieved, they would write to the Chief Minister, Agriculture Minister, District Magistrate and other senior officials, demanding an immediate rollback of the illegal charges and action against the contractor. “With no resolution in sight, vendors have warned of an indefinite strike if the exploitation continues. If the administration doesn’t act now, the entire distribution network will collapse, and the blame will lie squarely on the market committee,” said Mukesh Singh, a vegetable vendor at the mandi. Meanwhile, contrary to the claims of arhtiyas and vendors, ACP-North Aatish Bhatia said the meeting ended on a positive note with the majority of issues resolved. He confirmed that the situation did escalate briefly due to heated exchanges between contractor representatives and arhtiyas, but added that police presence ensured things were brought under control immediately. He stated that the parking rates being charged are in line with the mandate of the market committee and dismissed allegations of overcharging as rumours. “The contractor observed that the same stall is managed by one vendor in the morning and another in the evening. Accordingly, fees were collected from both, which was then misinterpreted as overcharging,” he explained. Regarding the issue of multiple entries, Bhatia clarified that the clause has always existed under Mandi Board guidelines but was previously not enforced. “The contractor has only implemented the existing clause,” he said. To address such concerns in the future, he added that a new committee comprising representatives of vendors, arhtiyas and the market committee will be formed to escalate issues with the higher authorities for resolution. Market Committee secretary Rupinder Singh was unavailable for comment as his phone remained switched off. Truck crushes 3 at Mukerian, kin block road Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur/Talwara, April 16 Four persons died in two road accidents in the district while two were seriously injured. Two children are also among the dead. In the first accident, a speeding truck crushed four persons standing on the roadside in Hajipur town of Mukerian around 10 pm last night, due to which three, including two children, died on the spot and another was seriously injured. Mukesh Kumar, a resident of Barar Colony of Hajipur, was going on a scooter with his nephew Sameer (5) and niece Pari (3). He stopped the scooter to meet his friend Akash near Balmiki Temple on the way. A tipper coming at a high speed hit the scoot- 2 kids among the accident victims Sameer (5) Pari (3) er, dragging them and collided with another tipper parked ahead of them. In a complaint given to the police, Mukesh’s uncle Avtar Singh, the witness, said Pari and Sameer died on the spot, while the seriously injured Mukesh and Akash were taken to the hospital. Akash died on the way, while the seriously injured Mukesh was referred to Amritsar. The bodies of the deceased have been kept in the Civil Hospital of Dasuya. Akash DSP Kulwinder Singh said the Hajipur police have taken the truck into their possession. A case has been registered against the accused truck driver Surinder Singh of village Rajpur Mohlan, Dasuya and he has been arrested. Protesting against the last night's accident by a tipper truck killing 3 people on the spot and seriously injuring one more, the family of the victims blocked traffic at Budhawar Chowk from 2pm to 4 pm on Wednesday under the leadership of Sarpanch Kishore Kumar with the support of the people of the town. People allege that the deaths had occured due to uncontrolled rash driving of the overloaded truck. SAD leader Sarabjot Singh Sabi, Congress leader Advocate Sabhya Sanchi, Mandal BJP president Vinod Mithu, Numberdar Dharam Pal, etc were present. People demanded that a case be registered against the tipper owner too. The protesters also demanded to change the time for tippers to ply on Talwara-Hajipur road from 12 midnight to 4 am, to deploy police personnel at Budhawar Chowk and install speed breakers. The protest was ended after the police officers assured to fulfil the demands. Woman killed in accident In another accident, a woman riding an Activa died in an accident with a car near Nathuwal village near Talwara. Ravinder Singh of village Vidhiya told the police that his sister-inlaw Suman Bala (42) had gone to Datarpur from the village on her Activa for some household work. When she was returning home, a car coming on the wrong side near Nathuwal village hit her. Suman fell into the bushes on the roadside. During the accident, both vehicles were badly damaged and the car overturned. Suman Bala died on the spot in the accident while the car driver was also badly injured. The police have registered a case against the car driver. Labour winnows wheat grains as the crop arrival starts at New Grain Market, Jalandhar, on Wednesday. PHOTO SARABJIT SINGH Chabbewal kicks off wheat procurement at Phagwara Our Correspondent Sood joins as VC of Property of drug peddler razed Guru Ravidas varsity Tribune News Service Hoshiarpur, April 16 Dr Sanjeev Sood assumed the charge as Vice-Chancellor of Guru Ravidas Ayurved University Punjab, Hoshiarpur, today. Prior to this, he was serving as the principal of DAV Ayurvedic College, Jalandhar. Sood has many achievements at national and international level as a faculty in Ayurveda. He said establishing a teaching department for BAMS and an ayurvedic hospital with IPD on the university campus will be his topmost priority. Also initiating the MD Ayurveda course in 14 subjects was also among his topmost priorities. Bache- lor’s degree in yoga and naturopathy is on the cards. Before assuming charge, he garlanded the statute of Guru Ravidas on the entrance. Dr Manoj Kumar, Vice-Chancellor of DAV University, Jalandhar, Dr Ishank Kumar Chabbewal, MLA, Dr Sanjeev Gautam, Chairman, Board of Management, Guru Ravidas Ayurved University, Hoshiarpur, Dr Sanjeev Goyal, Registrar, were present on the occasion. Nawanshahr, April 16 Under the ‘War on Drugs’ campaign launched by the government to eradicate drugs and remove illegal possessions by drug peddlers, the Nawanshahr police, in coordination with the local administration, demolished an unauthorised construction at Aur today. This illegal construction was built by a person, Dev Raj Debi, which was demolished on the orders of the civil administration. A total of 18 cases have been registered against Debi of which 13 cases are registered under the NDPS Act. The police said the civil c m y b administration had asked for police assistance to demolish this illegal construction on which a heavy police force was deployed and it was demolished. The police claimed that under the ‘War on Drugs’ campaign, 253 cases have been registered since last month and 284 people have been caught and sent to jail. The police made an appeal to the people to provide information about such illegal activities. “We assure that immediate and strict action will be taken against the culprits,” they said. The police also warned the drug smugglers to either give up drug smuggling and do some other work, or be ready for the strictest action. Phagwara, April 16 MP Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal today inaugurated the wheat procurement at the Phagwara grain market and reaffirmed the government’s commitment to ensuring that every grain brought in by farmers will be procured without delay. During his visit to the mandi, Chabbewal interacted with farmers, commission agents and labourers, assuring them that the administration is prepared for a smooth procurement season. He said Kapurthala district has set a wheat procurement target of 3.38 lakh metric tonne for this season. To achieve this, the district administration has set up 42 permanent and several temporary procurement centres to facilitate farmers across the region. The MP said necessary directions have been issued to ensure robust arrangements in the mandis and procurement agencies have been instructed to make timely payments. The Reserve Bank of India has already released a Cash Credit Limit (CCL), enabling payments to be made to farmers within 48 hours of wheat procurement. To oversee the operations, SDMs have been appointed as nodal officers and will conduct regular inspections of the markets. Additionally, officials from the Food and Civil Supplies Department, the Mandi Board, and procurement agencies have been directed to remain active on the ground to monitor the process. Also present during the visit were Aam Aadmi Party spokesperson Harnur Singh Harji Mann, SDM Jasanjeet Singh, DFSC officials, and other key administrative officers.