22042025-ATR-01.qxd 4/21/2025 11:14 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY VILLAGERS BLOCK ROAD OVER ‘POLICE INACTION’ TWILIGHT STAR KRISTEN STEWART MARRIES DYLAN MEYER CELEBS UNDERLINE THE NEED FOR SUSTAINABLE WAYS People protested against the violation of the DC's orders to fix time for vehicles carrying sand and gravel. P2 This development comes over three years after Stewart confirmed her engagement to Meyer. P4 On World Earth Day, they talk about what can be done to save the planet from pollution and plastic. P4 » » MAX 38°C | MIN 22°C YESTERDAY MAX 38°C | MIN 20°C SUNSET TUESDAY 6.51 PM SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 5.47 AM » TUESDAY | 22 APRIL 2025 | AMRITSAR Pawan K Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, April 21 In a major seizure, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Amritsar zone, here has recovered around 3kg of intoxicant powder and over 11,000 of codine syrup bottles from a godown in Haridwar of Uttarakhand. The entire consignment was produced in a local court here on Monday. The recovery was made following the interrogation of Ankit Patel of Ram Dham Colony and Ajit Singh of Sinhniwala. They were arrested by the NCB in February this year, though the owner of the firm had managed to flee. According to reliable sources in the NCB, they were brought on police remand for further investigations during which they came to know about another godown from where the present seizure was made. The sources said out of 11,000 codine syrup bottles recovered, the batch number was written on 2,400 bottles while around 9,200 bottles did not have any batch number. They said the pharmaceutical firm under the radar has Sarpanch murder case: Prime suspect nabbed PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR NCB raids Haridwar pharma firm, seizes 3 kg intoxicant powder Tribune News Service Labourers load sacks of wheat on to a truck in Amritsar. Wheat harvesting picks up pace in dist The seized intoxicant powder and 11,000 codine syrup bottles being produced in a court in Amritsar on Monday. four godowns in Haridwar. Earlier, three trucks laden with sedative pills and syrups were seized by the agency. The sources said the firm was exporting the syrups in other countries also, including Nigeria. On January 4, the NCB had arrested Naveen from a medicine shop and recovered 24,000 of habit-forming pills from his possession. His interrogation led to the arrest of Sonu and Harsh Kumar of Gate Hakima while further investigations led to the recovery of 34,000 pills from Sukhpal Singh and Harwinder Singh of Beas. On January 8, NCB sleuths arrested Manpreet Singh of New Amritsar in the case. As per the sources, their interrogation led the NCB team to the Dehradun-based pharmaceutical firm where a raid was conducted and two workers were arrested from the spot by it. Amritsar, April 21 Harvesting has picked up the pace in the district with nearly one lakh metric tonnes of wheat produce reaching the markets. With most of the crop ready for harvesting, combine harvesters have started operations in fields. District agriculture officials stated that nearly 95 per cent of the crop would be harvested by the end of the week as the farmers are in a hurry to harvest the crop to avoid any mishappening like fire. The crop has been cultivated on nearly 1.80 lakh hectares of land in the district. Officials of the district mandi are expecting a total of nearly nine lakh metric tonnes of crop to reach the markets before the end of the season. Gurbinder Singh, an arhtiya, said, “The harvesting of the crop is going on at full speed for the last two days. The rush at the markets has already increased and labour is working day and night to weigh and fill the bags.” He said most of the crop coming to the markets is dry but in some cases, the problem of excess moisture is faced. To protect the wheat crop from fires due to short circuits from electricity wires, the power corporation had earlier started applying power cuts in rural areas during the daytime. The officials said loose wires or faulty equipment can cause sparks which can lead to fire. — TNS Amritsar, April 21 The Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF), in a joint operation with the Tarn Taran police, cracked the sarpanch (Bachitar Singh alias Bikkar) murder case by arresting the prime suspect, Bachitar Sukhbir Singh, alias Sukh, a resident of Barwala area in Tarn Taran here, on Monday. Bikkar was shot dead by two armed assailants at Naushehra Pannuan village on September 12 last year. DGP Gurav Yadav in a statement said Sukhbir was a habitual offender against whom several cases under the NDPS Act and the Arms Act and snatching cases have been registered. He said AGTF teams under the supervision of AIG (AGTF) Sandeep Goel and teams of the Tarn Taran police under the supervision of SSP Abhimanyu Rana were pursuing the culprit involved in the murder. They got a tip-off about the presence of both the accused in Pahuwind area in Tarn Taran. The main suspect in custody of the Anti-Gangster Task Force in Tarn Taran on Monday. Acting swiftly, AGTF and Tarn Taran police teams followed the accused person and managed to arrest Sukhbir near Gurdwara Sahib at Pahuwind village. AIG Sandeep Goel and SSP Abhimanyu Rana said Sukhbir played a crucial role in hatching conspiracy to execute the murder of Sarpanch Bachittar Singh. The accused was also involved in conducting a recce of the sarpanch, World Bank, AIIB joint team reviews Blind murder of Kang village progress of bulk water supply scheme woman solved, 1 arrested Our Correspondent Tribune News Service Amritsar, April 21 A seven-member joint team of the World Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) visited the city to assess the progress of the Amritsar Bulk Water Supply Scheme (ABWSS), a project initiated to provide residents with continuous access to clean drinking water. During their visit, the joint team of the World Bank and AIIB inspected the construction sites of water tanks at New Amritsar, Sau Futti Road, Skatari Bagh, Roop Nagar and Medical College. They also reviewed the pipeline-laying work at the SultanwindTarn Taran bypass and the Vallah bypass and the work of construction of the water treatment plant at Vallah. The Amritsar Municipal Corporation is implementing the Punjab Municipal Ser- Officials of the World Bank and AIIB review the progress of the Amritsar Bulk Water Supply Scheme Project on Monday. vices Improvement Project with the support of the World Bank and AIIB. Under this project, the ABWSS is being developed, which aims to treat water from the Upper Bari Doab Canal and supply it to households across the city. As part of this scheme, a state-of-the-art water treatment plant is being constructed near Vallah. Additionally, the project includes the construction of 45 new water tanks and the laying of a 112-km-long pipeline net- work throughout the city. Following the site visit, Surinder Singh, Additional Commissioner, MC, held a project review meeting with the visiting team. He informed them that various measures have been taken to expedite the project, which have resulted in significant progress in construction activities. He also mentioned that the long-pending no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Ministry of Defence for laying the pipeline has been obtained and work has now commenced. Rosanna Nitti, Srinivas Reddy, Dr BKD Raja, Navika Chaudhary, and Charu Jain from the World Bank, Ankur and Eva from AIIB along with Harsatinder Singh Dhillon (GM, Projects, PMIDC), Kuldeep Singh Saini (Project Manager), Jitin Vasudeva (XEN), and Narinderpal Singh, among others were also present on the occasion. Tarn Taran, April 21 The district police claimed to have resolved a blind murder case of a woman, Gurpreet Kaur (44), of Kang village situated along the Tarn TaranKhadoor Sahib road, who was brutally killed by slitting her throat with a sharpedged weapon around 10 days ago. The broad daylight killing was proving to be a headache for the police as the woman was a Gursikh. The crime was committed by more than one person who managed to escape from the spot. A case under Sections 103, 311, 332-B, and 333 of the BNS was registered by the Goindwal Sahib police. Even Sri Akal Takht Sahib officiating Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj had visited the family and expressed his grief with the victim’s family and assured the family of help. A suspect in the custody of the Tarn Taran police. PHOTO: GURBAXPURI SSP Abhimanyu Rana informed newsmen here on Monday that three robbers with intent to loot the house entered it and attacked the victim with sharp-edged weapons. The accused slit the throat of the woman as a result of which she died on the spot. The SSP said the police led by Inspector Prabhjit Singh were investigating the case. He said the police arrested one of the accused, who has been identified as Gursandeep Singh Kalu, of Dinewal and his associate Lakhwinder Singh Goldi of Jandiala Guru, who was arrested with drugs by the police around four days ago and is lodged in Goindwal Sahib jail. The SSP said the third accused has been identified, but he denied to disclose his identity and said he would be arrested soon. they added. With his arrest, the police have nabbed seven out of the total eight suspects nominated in the murder case. Further investigations are on and police teams are conducting a hunt to nab the eighth accused, the SSP said. Further investigation is underway to identify his associates and unearth the full extent of his criminal activities, he added. Medical student dies by suicide Amritsar, April 21 A medical student has committed suicide by hanging himself in a hostel room of Sri Guru Ram Dass Institute of Medical Sciences at Vallah here. He was identified as Atinderpal Singh of Gurdaspur, said Amanjot Kaur, SHO, Vallah police station here. He was a first-year MBBS student and had come to Amritsar on Sunday morning. The police are yet to ascertain the exact cause of his taking the extreme step. Amanjot Kaur said the incident came to light when he did not respond to repeated phone calls of his family members. Fearing some mishap, they later called his friend to see why he was not picking up phone. When his friend went to his room, he was found hanging. She said the police have started inquest proceedings in the case and sent the body for a postmortem. — TNS Thousands of telecom firms’ poles set up Two juveniles among three operatives of sans nod or fee payments, says RTI activist foreign-based gangster Dasuwal nabbed Tribune News Service Amritsar, April 21 A local RTI activist has levelled serious allegations against the telecom firms, claiming that thousands of poles for optical fiber cable (OFC) have been installed across the city without proper approvals or fee payments. Suresh Kumar Sharma, former district AAP president and RTI activist, stated that he collected the information through RTI that the Amritsar Municipal Corporation (MC) had granted permission to install only 1,528 poles between October 27, 2022, and March 10, 2023. But more than 15,000 poles have been installed throughout the city. “Every lane and corner of the city has a telecom pole An RTI activist shows a telecom company’s pole in Amritsar. now. It’s hard to find a single street left untouched. Telecommunication companies are responsible for the rampant installation and has dug up large portions of the city to lay OFC cables, causing significant damage to under- ground water and sewer pipelines, many of which later had to be repaired at public expense,” said Sharma. Sharma said besides the infrastructural damage, these cause undue inconvenience to residents. “The poles have been installed right at street corners, leaving little room for large vehicles,” he added. The RTI activist also highlighted irregularities in the approval process. As per regulations, permissions for such installations should be granted through a District-Level Telecom Committee under the chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner. This committee is supposed to include representatives from the police, the electricity board, the Forest Department, and the Amritsar Municipal Corporation. However, Sharma alleged that MC engineers approved the poles individually, bypassing the required committee altogether. He further claimed that had the installation of all poles continued on page 2 c m y b Amritsar, April 21 The Tarn Taran police have arrested three operatives, including two juveniles, of foreign-based gangster Prabh Dasuwal who were involved in a case of firing for intimidating the victims for extortion. “Among those arrested included Jobanpreet Singh, a resident of Pandori Ran Singh now Ganga Singh Naga in Tarn Taran,” said SSP Abhimanyu Rana, while addressing mediapersons here on Monday. They fired outside Jug Studio salon located on Jandiala Road near the Tarn Taran bus stand and outside his residence on the Goindwal bypass road in Tarn Taran. Sharing details, he said on April 20, the salon owner informed the police that on An associate of gangster Prabh Dasuwal in Tarn Taran on Monday. April 12, he had received a call from Prabh Dasuwal who had demanded ~1 crore extortion from him. As he did not fulfill his demand, the accused through his operatives shot several fires outside his salon and at his residence on April 17. He said on the same night, he got a number of extortion and threat calls in which the accused threatened to kill him and his family. Rana said the police registered an FIR and launched further probe to identify the suspects. Following technical and human intelligence, the police zeroed in on the suspects who were associates of Prabh Dasuwal and were involved in similar instances. “The police got a tip-off that the accused were roaming near the Tarn Taran city grain market. Immediately, police teams were dispatched and accused Jobanpreet and his associates were arrested. The police recovered two mobile phones from their possession,” he said, adding that more arrests are likely to be made during their further course of investigations. The SSP said Jobanpreet had two criminal cases, including of snatching and prison violation, registered against him at the Amritsar city police commissionerate. — TNS