04062025-LT-01.qxd 6/3/2025 10:40 PM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune POLICE ARREST SEVEN IN THEFT CASES CIVIL HOSPITAL: SHORTAGE OF STAFF AFFECTS PATIENT CARE ACTOR NAVNEET MALIK SHARES HOW FITNESS FUELS HIS CRAFT An auto-rickshaw, two motorcycles and 15 mobile phones recovered from the accused. P2 The 300-bedded Civil Hospital, catering to the entire district, is reeling under an acute shortage of specialist staff. P3 Actor Navneet Malik reveals the disciplined fitness regimen behind his on-screen transformations. P4 » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 36°C | MIN 20°C YESTERDAY MAX 39°C | MIN 24°C SUNSET WEDNESDAY 7.26 PM SUNRISE THURSDAY 5:23 AM » WEDNESDAY | 4 JUNE 2025 | LUDHIANA Demanded ~72L in Commissioner’s name, confesses civic body SE Contract involves renovation of Nehru Rose Garden Nikhil Bhardwaj ~8.80 CRORE TENDER Tribune News Service Ludhiana, June 3 The bail plea of Ludhiana MC Superintending Engineer Sanjay Kanwar, who demanded 10% commission from a contractor for getting the tender for the renovation of Nehru Rose Garden, was rejected on Monday. And after his arrest, many startling facts have come to light during his interrogation by the Vigilance Bureau. According to government records, Kanwar has accepted that 10% commission was demanded in the name of MC Commissioner Aaditya Dechalwal in exchange for a the tender worth Rs 8.80 crore to a contractor, Hitesh Agarwal, but the latter accepted to pay Rs 72 lakh. According to government records, Superintending Engineer Sanjay Kanwar has accepted that 10% commission was demanded in the name of MC Commissioner Aaditya Dechalwal in exchange for a tender worth Rs 8.80 crore to a contractor, Hitesh Agarwal, but the latter accepted to pay Rs 72L. Of this amount, he was to get only Rs 8 lakh, while the rest of the amount was to go to the Commissioner. Of this amount, he was to get only Rs 8 lakh, while the rest of the amount was to go to the Commissioner, according to him. The SE has also accepted that the voice in the audio clip demanding commission is his and the contractor’s. According to the confession, Kanwar has stated that he had bought a 200-yd plot at Badowal in 2005, for which he did not take the approval of the government and did not inform the department concerned. Apart from this, he also has a flat in Chandigarh. While in Vigilance remand, he has also accepted that he has three vehicles, while two have been bought in the name of other people. He has also travelled abroad three times in 2024 and 2025. There are about six bank accounts and lockers in his and his wife’s name in Chandigarh and Mohali. SE lying, misusing my name: Commissioner Municipal Corporation Commissioner Aaditya Dechalwal has said that Sanjay Kanwar was lying to defend himself. The tender bid for the renovation of Rose Garden was opened in February. When it had been decided that the work order should be given to the firm that clears the bid, then it was beyond comprehension on what basis Kanwar was carrying out a commission deal to get the tender for some other contractor. According to the Commissioner, his name has been misused in this case. Women councillors, sarpanches make up for absence of male party leaders Accommodate people from wards coming for verification of documents 15 nominations accepted after scrutiny: Sibin Ludhiana, June 3 After the scrutiny of nomination papers for the 64-Ludhiana (West) Assembly seat held on Tuesday, a total of 15 candidates’ nominations have been accepted. Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Sibin C stated that from May 26 to June 2, a total of 22 candidates had filed nominations for the Assembly byelection. Following the scrutiny of nomination papers today, 15 candidates’ nominations were found valid. The names of these 15 candidates are Baldev Raj Katna (Independent), Bharat Bhushan (Congress), Advocate Parupkar Singh Ghuman (Shiromani Akali Dal), Sanjeev Arora (Aam Aadmi Party), Paramjeet Singh Bharaj (Independent), Albert Dua (Independent), Jatinder Kumar Sharma (National Lok Seva Party), Kamal Pawar (Independent), Rajesh Sharma (Independent), Neetu (Independent), Jeevan Gupta (Bharatiya Janata Party), Navneet Kumar (Shiromani Akali Dal, Amritsar), Renu (Independent), Pawandeep Singh (Independent) and Gurdeep Singh Kahlon (Independent). The CEO stated that the nomination papers could be withdrawn till June 5.—TNS THE TRIBUNEINTERVIEW: JIWAN GUPTA, BJP BYPOLL CANDIDATE People will vote for patriotism, development, Modi’s vision J IWAN GUPTA, the BJP candidate for the upcoming Ludhiana (West) byelection, will be contesting for the first time. He talks confidently about BJP’s development agenda and says that due to the failure of other parties in doing any work in Punjab, voters of the constituency will vote for the BJP only. Gupta shares his political journey with Principal Correspondent Shivani Bhakoo. ■ Is this the first time that you are contesting an election? Yes, this is my first election. Though I wanted to contest the election in 2020, but that time I couldn’t. The party has given me great honour in announcing my candidature for Ludhiana byelection. I started my career in 1991 in the RSS from a small town like Bassi Pathana. In 1996, I shifted to Ludhiana and took party matters seriously. Since then, there has been no looking back. I have served as secretary, general secretary and vice-president of the Punjab BJP for several years. Presently, I am a member of the core committee of the state unit. ■ Who would vote for the ❝ Around 1.74 lakh voters must not be knowing Jiwan Gupta personally, but they know about the party, which focusses on the welfare of the masses and development. I represent the common man, unlike others. ■ Where do you see yourself in the present election? I have been sincerely serving for the BJP from the grassroots level for the past over 13 years. Though there were 25 willing candidates who wanted to get this ticket, but the party decided to field me, keeping in mind my roots and my affection with the party workers. BJP since the candidate was declared too late? All voters who believe in patriotism, development and the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will vote for the BJP in the upcoming Ludhiana election. The party is confident of not only getting good number of votes, but will win with majority. People must not be knowing Jiwan Gupta by name, but they know to which party he belongs to. Secondly, the AAP and Congress are deep into corruption and the voters have come to know about the real faces, so the BJP doesn’t have to be scared of anything. ■ Where would be your focus if you come to power? The BJP believes in transparency. Around 1.74 lakh voters must not be knowing Jiwan Gupta personally, but they know about the party, which focusses on the welfare of the masses and development. I am not from any rich class of society, like my other rivals. I represent the common man. I will get the best for Ludhiana (West) voters from the Centre. Mahesh Sharma Mandi Ahmedgarh, June 3 Following the announcement of the Ludhiana (West) byelection, leaders of various political parties, including MLAs, councillors and sarpanches become unavailable for local residents. Even as Aam Aadmi Party leaders have already been camping at various localities falling under Ludhiana (West) Assembly segment for over a fortnight, office-bearers and activists of the Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal and Bhartiya Janata Party are reportedly commuting between their native areas and their respective beats in Ludhiana. The tendency has resulted in a situation wherein women councillors and sarpanches have to reschedule their daily chores to accommodate people from other wards seeking guidance and verification of their documents. Acknowledging the tendency, some councillors led by Vikas Krishan Sharma said care had been taken to ensure that residents don’t suffer due to unavailability of their elected representative who had been asked by their leadership to support the SAD to hold camps for collecting affidavits against land pooling policy Tribune News Service Councillor Jaswinder Sharma attests a resident’s papers at Ahmedgarh. election campaign of their respective candidates in Ludhiana (West). “While we have been supporting the election campaign of our party candidate under the supervision of AAP legislator Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra, we tried our best to ensure that residents don’t suffer due to our deployment at Ludhiana,” said Sharma maintaining that women councillors, irrespective of their political allegiance, were available at their homes. Deepak Sharma, president, Block Congress Committee, said that his councillor wife Jaswinder Sharma had staggered her programme of taking the kids for a vacation after learning that most of the male councillors were busy in election campaigns of candidates of their respective parties in Ludhiana. “As it has become a trend for leaders of almost all political parties to support election campaigns of their respective candidates, we have decided to reschedule our tour plans according to people’s requirements,” said Sharma. Councillor of ward number 5 Jaswinder Sharma acknowledged that the number of people visiting her place for verification of documents related to admissions and issuance of certain certificates had increased significantly following declaration of the byelection. Mullanpur, June 3 The Shiromani Akal Dal has announced that it will organise camps in surrounding villages of Ludhiana to collect affidavits from the farmers against the land pooling policy of the state government. These affidavits will be submitted to the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Policy (GLADA) for expressing discontentment over the policy. Yesterday, the Punjab Government in a Cabinet meeting chaired by the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had rolled out an amended land pooling policy across 27 urban centres in the state. Former SAD, Ludhiana, president Ranjit Singh Dhillon, now SAD Lok Sabha in charge from Ludhiana, along with SAD leaders, namely Jaskaranjit SAD leaders at a press conference against the land pooling scheme of the state government, at Mullanpur on Tuesday. Singh Deol and Gurcharan Singh Grewal, and others addressed a press conference regarding the matter here on Tuesday. Dhillon while taking credit for the agitation launched by SAD against the land pooling policy said that due to the pressure of SAD, the state government was forced to announce that land could only be acquired after farmers agreed to it. However, contrary to this, Cabinet minister Tarunpreet Singh Sondh had already claimed a few days back that SAD was misguiding farmers on the pretext that the government would acquire land forcibly from them, but the truth was that land acquisition would be done if the farmers agreed to it. Dhillon further said although the government approved the amended land pooling policy, yet it would not be beneficial for the land owners as the latter would not be able to get the assured value even after development of urban centres on the land. Dhillon emphasised that SAD would continue the agitation against the policy till it was not scrapped. “SAD has decided to organise camps at villages in Ludhiana, where land will be acquired by the government. Our cadre will make the land owners sign an affidavit showing dissent against the land acquisition. Even land records of the land owners will be attached with the affidavits. After collecting the affidavits the same will be submitted to GLADA,” held Dhillon. Asked if the farmer unions of the state have extended support to SAD, Dhillon said the meeting had already been held with some farmer unions and they agreed to back the party to press the government to scrap the policy. Ashu’s close associate, Punjab will soon get rid of ‘aapda’ says Cong , 17 others join AAP bypoll candidate on AAP’s three-year rule Tribune News Service Ludhiana, June 3 The AAP got significant boost today before the Ludhiana (West) byelection, while the Congress suffered yet another setback. On Tuesday, Lucky Bansal, a close associate of Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu from ward No. 63 in Ludhiana, joined the AAP along with his associates. Punjab AAP working president Amansher Singh Shery Kalsi in the presence of party MLAs Ashok Parashar Pappi, Kuljit Randhawa, Kulwant Sidhu, AAP leader Sharanpal Makkar and other party office bearers formally inducted the new leaders into the party fold and welcomed them. Along with Lucky, his associates Kapil Gupta, Sonia Gupta, Sonu Nagpal, Kapila, Siddharth and about 12 supporters joined the party. Addressing the media, Kalsi stated that all these individuals had decided to join the AAP due to their dissatisfaction with the behaviour and working style of Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu. On the land pooling scheme, Kalsi said that only Akali leaders were worried because they had always taken advantage of such schemes. Farmers have no issues since everything will happen with their consent. No land will be acquired without consent of land owner. Farmers will receive 1,000 sq yds of residential land and 200 sq yds of commercial plots per acre. Additionally, farmers will receive an assistance amount of ?30,000 per acre annually during the threeyear development phase. The AAP leader said that this scheme was troubling land mafias and corrupt leaders because they were no longer able to reap financial benefits as they did earlier. He criticised the previous governments for benefiting land mafias through such schemes and leaving farmers to fend for themselves. Tribune News Service Ludhiana, June 3 Asserting that it was not the AAP government in Punjab, but the ‘aapda’ (a disaster) that had struck Punjab over three years ago, Punjab Congress working president and Ludhiana (West) candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu today said that the state would soon get rid of this ‘aapda’ and a new beginning would be made from Ludhiana (West). Asked about the public response during an informal interaction with the media on the sidelines of his public meetings, Ashu said that c m y b Bharat Bhushan Ashu during his public outreach programme. people were recalling the previous five years of the Congress regime between 2017 and 2022. He said that, “It is a double benefit for him as people remember our government and compare it with the AAP’s fake and fictitious promises. We made no fake and false promises, and we only deliver on the ground,” he said, while adding that people were now feeling cheated that not only did the AAP back out of its promises, but has pushed the state into anarchy, where lawlessness, vendetta and corruption have become norm of the day. The senior Congress leader reiterated his challenge to the ruling party and its candidate to list a single achievement of the AAP government for Punjab or Ludhiana. “I challenge them that their advertisement budget will turn out to be more than any of their public welfare schemes, if they really had any,” he asserted while referring to the massive expenditure the AAP government has incurred on campaigning advertisements. Accusing the government of only resorting to ruthless vendetta against its political opponents, Ashu pointed out that he himself was one such example. “But I am thankful to the court, which not only quashed the case against me, but also said that it was out of political vendetta,” he said, while adding that he was feeling vindicated and was now seeking justice in the people’s court also.