17052025-ATR-01.qxd 5/16/2025 11:33 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY FARMERS URGED TO ADOPT DSR TECHNIQUE 8K DRUG PEDDLERS BOOKED SINCE MARCH 1: MINISTER 78TH CANNES FILM FESTIVAL IMPOSES STRICT DRESS CODE Officials of the Agriculture Department have been asked to encourage farmers to adopt DSR technique. P2 Minister Dhaliwal said the Punjab Police had booked over 8,000 cases against peddler since March 1. P2 On the red carpet, no nudity or voluminous outfits with long trains are allowed. P4 » » MAX 43°C | MIN 25°C YESTERDAY MAX 42°C | MIN 25°C SUNSET SATURDAY 7.06 PM SUNRISE SUNDAY 5.28 AM » SATURDAY | 17 MAY 2025 | AMRITSAR After dodging loan agency for months, defaulter surrenders 16 trucks carrying mining material escape as cops fail to reach spot Were ferrying illegal mining material worth lakhs from J&K to Punjab Ravi Dhaliwal Tribune News Service Police personnel were deployed to enable the finance agency to seal the property that was under dispute over unpaid loan in Tarn Taran on Friday. PHOTO: GURBAXPURI Tarn Taran, May 16 An interesting case has come to light wherein a bank loan defaulter had been dodging officials of a home finance agency on the pretext of religious traditions. But finally, he had to surrender before the law on Thursday by way of sealing his property as he had failed to pay back the loan. Kuldeep Chopra, a resident of Bhikhiwind, had taken the loan from ICICI Home Finance to construct his home in Bhikhiwind but failed to pay back the loan. The officials of the lending agency had been visiting his house for the last few months to seal it and take custody of the property but whenever they visited, they would find an Akhand Path going on in the house and had to return empty-handed. The ICICI Home Finance officials approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court and orders were issued in this regard to the district police, Tarn Taran, to provide police protection to get the property sealed. The officials of the Home Finance led by its head Amit Kumar, under the supervision of a duty magistrate and police force, went to the site on Thursday and convinced the representatives of the religious organisation conducting the Akhand Path that the defaulter Kuldeep Chopra had been misleading them as he was using the holy Sikh traditions for his selfish ends. The Sikh religious representatives agreed that at the conclusion of the Akhand Path on Thursday, they would be free to seal the disputed property and it was done under the supervision of police force. The ICICI Home Finance defaulter had to surrender before law. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Bhikhiwind, Preetinder Singh, led the police force. — OC Pathankot, May 16 Sixteen trucks carrying illegal mining material worth lakhs of rupees managed to escape from the custody of officials of the Mining Department as the police failed to arrive at the scene to help the officials. This development has become the talk of the town with the police finding it hard to defend themselves. The trucks were operating without valid documents. They were trying to enter Punjab from J&K on Thursday evening. Mining Department officials SDO Sandeep Samyal and Junior Engineers (JE) Amit Kapila, Sangamdeep Singh and Abhishek Attri had received inputs about their movement. Subsequently, they had established a check-post near Kirrian village on the Pathankot-Sundarchak Road to confiscate the vehicles. The state stands to lose revenue when undocument- A truck carrying mining material in the custody of the Mining Department before its driver managed to drive it away in Pathankot. ed trucks enter the state without paying the relevant fees. According to the norms, each truck illegally entering the state from outside states is fined Rs 2 lakh. Mining officials said they stopped the trucks at 7.30 pm and till 1.30 am, the police did not reach the scene. XEN Nitin Sood said he reached immediately after getting a call from his colleagues. “We called up several officials of the Taragarh police station, but they had their mobile phones switched off. After some time, we called up the Deputy Commissioner (DC) Aditya Uppal who sent some policemen from his own staff to ensure the truckers did not flee. In the meantime, two SUVs (Scorpio) arrived following which its occupants started misbehaving. There were at least 10 persons in the two vehicles. Since we had no police protection and were outnumbered, all the 16 trucks and the SUVs escaped,” said XEN Sood. A case has been registered at the Taragarh police station based on a complaint filed by XEN Samyal. SSP Daljinder Singh Dhillon said under such circumstances, the police should be informed in advance. “At times, our force is preoccupied with other engagements,” he said. XEN Sood said the hooligans manhandled his staff. “We seized the trucks at 7.30 pm and for the next few hours, we kept on contacting the police. What else advance information should we have given? In the meantime, the miscreants badly manhandled my staff,” said Sood. A mining official said the trucks managed to flee due to the police inaction. “The cops never turned up despite repeated requests,” he said. SSP Dhillon said the police had stumbled on some clues, adding that the trucks would be impounded soon and the culprits brought to book. Caption: A truck carrying mining material in the custody of the Mining Department before they managed to escape in Pathankot. PSEB CLASS X RESULTS OUT DGP Railways Girls outdo boys, Meherpreet gets 99.38% Shashi Prabha Pass percentage of district at 98.54, 25 students figure in state merit list holds police, Tribune News Service Senior Secondary School, public meet Nath Di Khuhi, Channanke, Kartik 97.69% Paramveer Singh 96.77% Pawandeep Kaur 96.62 % Suneha Sharma 96.62% Tanu Sharma 96.62% Tarn Taran emerges third in state Tarn Taran, May 16 Tarn Taran district with its 98.08 pass percentage in the results of the Tenth standard, declared by the PSEB on Friday placed third position in the state. A total number of 12979 students appeared in the exam and 12730 were declared to pass the exam. Girls out-shined than the boys in the exam as three girls students out of total five students placed posi- tion in the board merit list. Satnam Singh Bath, District Education officer (Secondary) informed that the students who placed their position in the merit list are Kartik (635/650 , 97.69%) of Government Senior Secondary Smart School Patti (Boys), Paramveer Singh (629/ 96.77% ) of Baba Gurmukh Singh Baba Uttam Singh Sen. Sec. School Khadoor Sahib, Pawandeep Kaur (628/ 96.62 %) of Gurukul Public School Bhikhiwind, Suneha Sharma (628/ 96.62%) of IT Sr.Sec. School Bhagwanpura and Tanu Sharma (628/96.62%)of Baba Gurmukh Singh Baba Uttam Singh Sr. Sec. School Khadoor Sahib. Satnam Singh Bath, District Education Officer (S), extended his all best wishes for the bright future of the student who outshined in the exam. — OC Amritsar, May 16 Celebrations took place across schools as the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) declared Class 10 results today. The pass percentage of Amritsar district was recorded at 98.54, once again topping the state, while 25 students from Amritsar found their names in the state merit list. The top merit positions in the district were bagged by girls as they outshone boys. Meherpreet Kaur, a student of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Kot Baba Deep Singh, bagged the first position in Amritsar, scoring 99.38 per cent. She secured the fourth rank in state with these marks. Arnurbir Kaur, a student of Meherpreet Kaur 99.38% Arnurbir Kaur 98.31% 25 STUDENTS IN MERIT LIST ■ The pass percentage of Amritsar district was recorded at 98.54, once again topping the state, while 25 students from Amritsar found their names in the state merit list. The top merit positions in the district were bagged by girls as they outshone boys. Sahib Sri Guru Gobind Singh Senior Secondary School, Chung, has secured second place in the district with 98.31 per cent and Arshdeep Kaur, a student of Sri Guru Ramdas has secured third place with 97.85 per cent. Expressing her happiness over the results of the district, Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney congratulated the students and teachers for their hard work and motivated them to work harder in the future. Sharing information about the results, District Education Officer (Secondary) Harbhagwant Singh Waraich said that other meritorious students in the district include Anmoldeep Kaur, a student of Standard Public High School, Dhulka, with 97.54 per cent and Karanpreet Kaur, from Government High School, Khanpur Shero with 97.54 per cent. ‘Conduct tests on samples of 13 held as crackdown Woman among two drinking water in all schools’ on bootleggers goes on nabbed with heroin Tribune News Service Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney during a meeting held to check the quality of drinking water in all government schools in Amritsar on Friday. Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 16 Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney, while holding a meeting with Nitin Kalia, AXION Water Supply, and other officials of department concerned, has directed them to conduct tests on samples of drinking water in all government and recognised schools. She said their testing should be ensured, keeping in mind quality control methods and if any contamination is found, it must be reported. Keeping in mind the upcoming monsoon season, she said during the summer vacation, the water tank of every school and the RO installed there should be continued on page 2 Amritsar, May 16 The crackdown on bootleggers continued in the rural belt with as many as 13 persons, including a woman, being arrested by the police in the past 24 hours while three individuals managed to abscond. Those arrested were identified as Gurmit Singh of Jhanjoti, Surjit Singh of Harsha Chhinna, Salwinder Singh of Khatrai Khurd village, Bhupinder Singh of Jallupur Kheda, Sunny Singh of Baba Bakala, Puran Singh and Jassa Singh of Bhindi Saida, Gupreet Singh of Toor village, Sukhdev Singh of Toot village, Inder Singh of Bhagtupura, Baldev Singh of Ibban Kalan, Manpreet Kaur of Bhangali Khurd and Banti of Gallowali Kullia village. Those absconding includ- c m y b ed Hardeep Singh of Ramdass, Manga Singh of Machhiwala village and Heera Singh (Manpreet Kaur’s husband). The police seized 1,570 kg of lahan and 412 bottles of illicit liquor from their possession. The police have registered separate First Information Reports (FIRs) under the Excise Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Act against them. To tighten noose around the repeat offenders, the police have also added the stringent section 123 (causing hurt by means of poison etc with intent to commit an offence) and 62 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) of Bharatiya Nayaya Sanhita (BNS) in addition to provisions of the Excise Act in the cases registered. Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 16 The Gharinda police have arrested two drug peddlers, including a woman, and recovered 1.5 kg of heroin from their possession. They were identified as Balbir Kaur and Amritpal Singh, alias Kaka, of Dhanoe Khurd village. Their third accomplice Sahibdeep Singh, alias Sabu, has been absconding since the incident. Raids were on to nab him, said the police. Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Lakhwinder Singh Kaler said the police got a tip-off that Sahibdeep, Amritpal and Balbir Kaur were involved in drug trafficking. He said following this, a police team laid a naka near the defence drain ahead of the barbed fence. The police team saw the three coming towards them on a motorcycle and signalled them to stop. Two accused in custody of the Amritsar police on Friday. However, they tried to slip away from the scene, but during this, Balbir Kaur fell off the bike. The police seized the contraband from her possession. Her disclosure led to the arrest of Amritpal Singh and efforts are on to arrest Sahibdeep Singh. A case under the NDPS Act was registered with the Gharinda police in this regard while further investigation is in progress to ascertain the source of heroin and their backward and forward linkages. Tribune News Service Amritsar, May 16 Director General of Police (Special), Railways, Shashi Prabha Dwivedi along with senior officials of the city police conducted a policepublic meeting under Operation Sampark under the Yudh Nashiya Virudh campaign launched by the Punjab Government in the border state here on Friday. The meeting was held at Madhav Vidya Niketan Senior Secondary School at Ranjit Avenue here. Students, school staff and residents of the area were among those who participated in the meeting. Addressing the participants, she said the government has launched a special helpline number (77101-04818) on which the people could inform about drug traffickers active in their areas. Besides, public can also inform the police on helpline number 112 in this connection. “These lines remain open 24X7 and the police would immediately take action on the information provided by people on these helplines. The identity of the informer would also be kept secret,” she said, urging the people to participate in the anti-drug campaign to make Punjab a drug-free state. She said it would happen overnight, but they have to work in this direction every day and everyone should contribute towards this goal. She said people knew about anti-social elements of their areas. Police officials also sought opinion and their advice over the issue. Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the Punjab Police have adopted zero tolerance against drug peddlers and due to this, the police have managed to dismantle the supply chains of drugs to a great extent. However, to end this menace completely, people should join hands with the police.