10052025-JTR-01.qxd 5/9/2025 11:05 PM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar tribune NO SHORTAGE OF ESSENTIALS, ASSURED DC KAPURTHALA EFFORTS UNDERWAY TO RESTORE RAMGARHIA FORT BOLLYWOOD CELEBS LAUD INDIAN ARMY BRAVERY A district-level task force has been constituted to monitor the supply of essential commodities.P2 The legacy of this fort is being revived by the Maharaja Jassa Singh Ramgarhia Memorial Educational Trust. P3 Veteran actor Anupam Kher took to social media to share a video from his family’s home in Jammu. P4 » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 35°C | MIN 24°C YESTERDAY MAX 35°C | MIN 23°C SUNSET SATURDAY 7.13 PM SUNRISE SUNDAY 5:34 AM » SATURDAY | 10 MAY 2025 | JALANDHAR Max gun range in 1971 was only a km, says IAF veteran INBRIEF TWO 'DRUG PEDDLERS' HELD Phagwara: The Nakodar police have a drug peddler on the charge of selling heroin. Three gram of heroin was recovered from the possession of the accused, identified as Jaspreet Singh, of Bopa Rai Kalan village. A case under Sections 21B/61/85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against the accused. The Mehatpur police also arrested drug peddler Harwindar Singh, alias Ambu, of Khurshaidpur village in Ludhiana, with 65 intoxicating tablets. OC VETERANS’ TAKE Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service MAN BOOKED FOR THREATENING Phagwara: The Nakodar police have booked a miscreant on the charges of deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feeling of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs and criminal conspiracy. Jaspreet Singh of Chak-Kalan village complained to the police that an accused threatened to kill him and posted obscenely edited photos on social media. A case under the BNS and Sections 3(1)(s) of the ST/SC Act has been registered against unidentified accused. OC Students of a college return to their homes after reports that drones fell near their campus in Jalandhar. PHOTO MALKIAT SINGH NIT students leave hostels post drone attack in city LPU too allows students to leave campus, may take online exams Deepkamal Kaur MAN HELD FOR SELLING LIQUOR Phagwara: The Shahkot police have arrested a villager on a charge of selling illicit liquor. As many as 15 bottles of illicit liquor were recovered from the possession of the accused, identified as Kulwindar Singh, a resident of Thamuwal village. A case under Sections 61/1/14 of the Excise Act has been registered against the accused. OC Fake videos & news spread unabated, people scared Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 9 After drone attacks from Pakistan near Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, the Centre has issued instructions to the authorities to allow hostellers to leave the campus. The move came after hostellers captured drones flying and getting destroyed from their room balconies and forwarded these to their parents back home. The panic-struck parents started making frantic calls, asking the authorities to relieve the wards for a week or so. As the examination were to start from May 14, the NIT has postponed the examination for now. Students have been allowed to stay away from the campus till May 16. The Centre had also issued instructions to the authorities asking them to provide special buses till bus stand and railway station from where they could further leave for their places. The bus service on the campus had started at 6 am and shall continue for the whole day depending on the train booking of the students, said a professor on the campus. There are about 6,000 hostellers on the campus pursuing B.Tech, M.Tech and doctorate courses. Meanwhile, Lovely Professional University has also allowed its hostellers to leave the campus and return to their hometowns. “These stu- dents will be allowed to appear for their end-term examination via online mode, subject to the government regulations. The dates and guidelines for the online examination will be communicated in due course of time”, LPU officials have told its students. The university has given the students a choice to continue to stay on the campus. “The campus will remain operational. Examination and academic activities will continue as per original schedule starting May 12”, the note further read. The authorities have issued a helpline number 01824-520150. Also, the authorities of IK Gujral Punjab Technical University, which had put off the The 1971 war veteran Air Vice-Marshal Sarvjit Hothi (retd) shows his picture while in uniform. PHOTO: SARABJIT SINGH cer.” AVM Hothi has remained posted as the Commanding Officer of 31 Squadron at Halwara Air Force Station from 1988-90. He also served as the Station Commander at the Jaisalmer airbase. He returned to Halwara again as the Air Officer Commanding in 1998. He also remained posted in Maritime Air Operations, Mumbai, from 2004-06. On how the damage assessment was done five decades ago, AVM Hothi recalled, “While we have satellite system to do that and also drone system to capture the images (besides immediate media reports), a special single pilot aircraft was sent for the photorun. The now and then pictures were compared to assess the damage done.” AVM Hothi shared a war time incident wherein a Pakistani pilot had been apprehended by the IAF as the Prisoner of War. “The Squadron Leader’s jet was fired at. It caught fire and we saw him ejecting safely in front of us. We recovered several things from him, including the maps of the target areas that he was carrying. Our team immediately caught hold of him and put the prized catch in a quarter Unexploded missile found in village Aakanksha N Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 9 It was a night of fear when sounds of explosions were heard from various parts in Jalandhar. Residents spent sleepless night on Thursday. People from other parts of the country were making frantic calls to their relatives to ask if they were safe. But what worsen the situation was the circulation of fake videos and pictures that made people more scare. The residents were forwarding the messages in various groups and this led to the spread of misinformation. The district administration seemed clearing the doubts by sending various messages to not believe on whatever was being shared on social media. DC Himanshu Aggarwal also made a special video today, saying that one of the major challenges the administration was facing was to put a control on the spread of fake news. One of the messages from the administration on Thursday night read, “Regarding CT college video: This is an unrelated video. Jalandhar has seen some drones tonight and are being neutralised by the Army. This video is at 7.39 pm as can be seen in the display while first drone was sighted near 9 pm. This has been confirmed as a farm fire. Plz dont spread the video.” In a video shared by the DC, he said action will be taken against those spreading fake news. examination from May 8 till May 10, have now further postponed these till further notice. “The revised schedule for the examination will be announced at least five days prior to the new date of commencement. All concerned are advised to stay updated with varsity website”, a note from the Controller of Examination of IKGPTU this morning read. Even Guru Nanak Dev University has extended its datesheet till May 17. The exams had earlier scheduled for May 8, 9 and 10 had been postponed. Now these have been put off for all its affiliated colleges in the region till May 17. Students have been asked to keep checking the varsity portal for updates. Jalandhar, May 9 As the high-precision Operation Sindoor is underway, Air Vice-Marshal Sarvjit Hothi (retd) (75) says that he is reminded of the minimal technological support with which he had flown Gnat fighter aircraft into the Pakistan territory in the 1971 war. “I was just a 22-year-old pilot that time. It had been just two years since I had been inducted into the Indian Air Force. I was posted where there was all action going on that time - Amritsar. Our fight was completely different. The pilot had to sight the target and then bombard it. The maximum gun range at our times was just about a km. After hitting the target with often a 1,000-pound bomb, we had to immediately revert. Sometimes, we would get engaged in a dogfight. It was an eyeball to eyeball fight with the pilot of the enemy’s aircraft. Unlike that time, now the targets are set hundreds of kilometres away without even the need to cross the border. The current operation is the use of Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missiles and Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) and the pilots do not even get to see the target,” recalled AVM Hothi, who has been a recipient of the Vayu Sena Medal and Vashisht Seva Medal. The officer, who retired in 2007 after putting in 38 years of service, recalled, “I was the Commanding Officer of now Air Chief Marshal AP Singh when he had just got commissioned as the Flying Offi- Talwara, May 9 Some parts of a missile fell in near Kamahi Devi village situated in the hills of the Shivalik region the previous evening, creating an atmosphere of panic in villages of the area. There was no loss of life or property. According to information, two missile pieces fell in the fields of Balram Singh in village Beh Atta near Kamahi Devi. As soon as the falling of missile was known, the information was given to the Talwara police. SHO, Talwara, Satpal Singh reached the spot with his team. After the area was sealed, the information was given to the district authorities. The Air Force was informed about it and today an inspection team of the Army from Jalandhar reached there. They inspected the pieces of the missile. One of the two pieces was measured to be about 9 feet long and the other was about 2 feet long. The team neutralises the pieces of this missile and took it away with them. — OC guard. There was so much excitement to see him that everyone took turns to go and have a look at him. He pleaded that he should not be treated like an animal in the zoo. But we did take good care of him and handed him over to our Delhi teams. After the war, there was an exchange of PoWs and he had returned”, he recalled the incident. On Operation Sindoor, he said, “It is amply clear that India does not want to escalate it. The operation was a political decision. The objective was to avenge the innocent killings in Pahalgam. We are in a different era when we cannot let go the attack in Parliament or the 9/11 Mumbai terror attack. Such atrocities against a common man cannot be tolerated now. It has been more of a tit for tat of what has been happening till now. There is no plan for any physical occupation of any land.” On the last night drone bombardment in Jammu, Pathankot, Jalandhar and other areas, he said, “There was nothing much. There has been no damage done by the drones that flew in. The TV reporters created so much noise which only scared people. I think there is not much to worry as of now”. Sirens for new areas Jalandhar, May 9 There are 14 points here where sirens are installed, the administration will enhance the coverage by putting up sirens in 15 more locations. They are Curo High Street on 66 feet road, Chunmun Mall on Link road, Police Lines, Cantt railway station, city railway station, AIR, Doordarshan, Postal and Telecom Colony, Government Sports College, Haveli, Civil Hospital, MC office, PIMS, Pushpa Gujral Nari Niketan and Gurdwara on 120 ft road. Violations during blackouts leave city War panicIndustrial workers keen to leave for native places residents worried, control room set up Migrants wait for trains to their destinations at Jalandhar railway station. PHOTO: SARABJIT SINGH Aparna Banerji Aakanksha N Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Jalandhar , May 9 The war-like situation in India and Pakistan has created panic among labourers working in industrial units. The migrants, who work here in factories, have been fearful since last night after they heard explosions. Industrial unit owners share that most of their workers were supposed to come back these days as they had gone back to their native places for harvesting of crops. “But now they have put their scheduled visits on hold,” they said. And those who are here are now getting calls from their families and they also want to leave. Apart from this, due to blackouts, night shifts have been cancelled in the factories. HS Chitkara, president, Punjab Rubber Association, said overtime in the factories won’t happen now. “The most important factor is that the labour is fearful. They want to leave. Also, if situation remains the same, it will impact the export as well,” he said. Narinder Sagoo, another industrialist in the city, said if things remain like this, it will affect the production as well. “Right now, not much impact is being seen but there are a lot of apprehensions. Labourers were to return to the factories from their native places, but it is not happening now as they are scared,” he told The Tribune. Another industrialist Tajinder Bhasin also corroborated the fact that the labour was getting restless here. “We wish that things don’t escalate and become normal. This is what we are wishing right now, else it will affect the business so much,” he added. c m y b Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 9 The frequent blackouts and a night of aerial attacks from Pakistan directed towards Punjab and deftly intercepted by the Indian Armed Forces have caused the veterans to recall the 1965 and 71 wars. Citizens who witnessed those times said despite lack of technology, residents were much more co-operative then. Despite two blasts and several sirens being heard in Jalandhar last evening during the most tense blackout witnessed post Operation Sindoor until now, the plying of vehicles, little flickering lights at mobile towers and balconies or on CCTV cameras persisted. However, the blackout adherence by residents was still better than the one on May 7. Social activist Surinder Saini, who was a small boy in the 1965 and 71 wars, said the blackouts reminded him of the situation then. Saini also complained to the district administration today against lights which stayed on during the blackout. Surinder Saini said, “It wasn’t so modern and hi-tech back then. If a bomb fell, it fell. No one intercepted it. So that is a sterling feat by the armed forces who stay vigilant to protect us. I still remember, in 1965, word had spread that a woman had lit a candle to milk cows at the Ghorewahi village in Jalandhar. And due to her, the entire village was bombed. We had specially gone to see the site of the village next morning. A group of youths used to set out from home to home asking people to cover windows so that not even a sliver of light may not escape out during blackout. People were much more law abiding. Now, no one cares.” Saini added, “CCTV cameras are linked to inverters or emergency lighting which defeats the entire purpose of the blackout. A small light also appears clearly during such time. Scooters and cars also plied openly, oblivious to the threat they pose. I registered a complaint regarding that today and also visited some homes as part of Defence Committee to spread awareness.” While two explosions were heard near Jalandhar last night, one of these emanated reportedly from near NIT where it was clearly heard. The DC issued control room number 0181-2224417 to citizens in case of an emergency.