03072025-ATR-01.qxd 7/2/2025 10:47 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST MAINLY CLOUDY/RAIN AAP MISMANAGING ECONOMY, SAYS SHWAIT MALIK RAO UNLEASHES HIS DARK SIDE IN MAALIK TRAILER SHANAYA ON TAKING 3 YRS TO MAKE HER ACTING DEBUT The Bhagwant Mann-headed AAP government in Punjab has amassed a debt of about Rs 4 lakh crore. P2 In Maalik, Rajkummar Rao plays a ruthless gangster who appears to stop at nothing to fulfil his ambition. P4 MAX 33°C | MIN 28°C YESTERDAY MAX 33°C | MIN 27°C Newcomer Shanaya Kapoor is excited to make her acting debut with Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan. P4 » » SUNSET THURSDAY 7.23 PM » SUNRISE FRIDAY 5.28 AM THURSDAY | 3 JULY 2025 | AMRITSAR State to monitor outcome of School Mentorship Program Four arrested with 510 kg of poppy husk Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, July 2 A team of the local CIA staff led by ASI Harjinder Singh seized 510 kg of poppy husk, hidden under the onion gunny bags laden in a truck, from the border area village of Boparai here on Tuesday. The police also arrested four persons involved in the illegal trade. Inspector Prabhjit Singh, incharge of CIA staff, said here on Wednesday that those arrested have been identified as Gurdev Singh and Gurpreet Singh, both residents of Kale Colony, Bhikhiwind, Gursewak Singh of Kale village and Gurdev Singh of Kambo Dhae Wala village . Inspector Prabhjit Singh said the CIA team signalled and stopped a truck, going from Harike village to Bhikhiwind, near the Boparai village bus stop. He said the poppy husk was hidden under the onion bags on the truck, which was being driven by Gurdev Singh with his assistant Gurpreet Singh sitting beside him. They were followed by Gursewak Singh and Gurdev Singh in a Scorpio. All four accused were arrested on the spot. A case under Sections 15, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered in this regard. Neha Saini Tribune News Service MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla during a meeting with officials of BSNL in Amritsar on Wednesday. MP: It’s important to save BSNL, livelihoods involved with it Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 2 Amritsar MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla held a meeting with BSNL officials from Amritsar and Tarn Taran here on Wednesday. The meeting of the Telephone Advisory Committee was held in the office of BSNL located at Ranjit Avenue where officials from Amritsar and Tarn Taran participated. During the meeting, the falling standards of BSNL, plans for it and other important things were discussed. MP Aujla said the biggest problem at present is theft of BSNL towers. “While infrastructure is big, the number of towers is very less, due to which there is a problem in the network as well,” he said, adding, “BSNL is a public sector company and it is very important to save it as several jobs and livelihoods are involved with it.” He took note of the problems being faced by them and these would be raised in Parliament and the minister of the department concerned can also be met. Aujla said the private sector is growing rapidly because there is no accountability in the government sector, while many problems also come at the government level like taking NOC from the PWD and other departments. “There is a lot of delay in these works due to which the public sector is not able to compete with the private sector. That is why today I wanted to know their problems in detail and they will be solved soon. Right now private companies are running 5G and thinking about 6G while BSNL is still sticking to 4G. For this, the government will be held accountable and efforts would be made regarding how 5G can be brought and this department can be taken towards progress again,” he said. Civic body asks people to get their water, sewer connections regularised or face action Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 2 The Amritsar Municipal Corporation (MC) has taken a tough stand to recover outstanding dues and regularise unauthorised water and sewerage connections. MC Additional Commissioner Surinder Singh held an emergency meeting with officials concerned and employees of the Water and Sewerage Department, emphasising the need for immediate action. As per the department’s records, there are approximately 2 lakh water and sewerage connections in the city and an outstanding amount of around Rs 29 crore is to be recovered. The recovery target for the financial year 2025-26 is Rs 16 crore, out of which only Rs 2 crore has been collected so far. Surinder Singh directed the Junior Engineers to issue notices to defaulters in their respective areas and take immediate action to disconnect their illegal water and The MC office building at Ranjit Avenue in Amritsar. VISHAL KUMAR sewerage connections. To ensure effective recovery and inspection, additional staff, including 15 tubewell drivers and five sanitary supervisors, have been deployed to work alongside recovery staff. The MC is also organising camps to facilitate regularisation of unauthorised connec- tions. A camp was scheduled today (July 2) in the Imperial City area of the Western Zone where residents were to be urged to regularise their connections, said the MC Additional Commissioner. He said failure to do so will result in disconnection of water and sewerage connections. He further said around 1 lakh connections exist in outer colonies under JICA, South East Project, and AMRUT Project, but these have not been regularised through the municipal corporation. This has caused a significant financial loss to the civic body. Camps are being organised for public convenience and action will be taken against those who do not avail of this facility. The Additional Commissioner said every Junior Engineer will be provided with a notice book to issue immediate notices to people for unauthorised connections. If defaulters fail to clear their pending dues, their connections will be disconnected, he said. Amritsar, July 2 Launching the ambitious ‘School Mentorship’ programme across 15 government schools in the state, wherein top bureaucrats and IPS officers would inspire and guide young minds, the state education department will now also monitor the outcome of these mentorship sessions conducted in each school. As per officials of the district education department, a notification will soon be issued to all IAS and IPS officers, who adopted these 15 schools to prepare an annual report on the outcome and impact of these mentoring sessions. The development comes after the state education department had advertised the School Mentorship Programme as a game-changer in building confidence and boosting soft skills of students from government schools through these curated sessions. In Amritsar, young 2019 batch IPS officer, Maninder Singh, posted as SSP rural, has adopted the School of Eminence, Ajnala, where he Amritsar SSP (Rural) Maninder Singh interacts with students of School of Eminence in Ajnala. FILE also conducted a session with students. Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, Sakshi Sawhney has adopted the School of Eminence, Khanna, where she conducted a session in May. Around 80 bureaucrats, including IAS, IPS and PCS officers, volunteered to act as mentors under the ‘School Mentorship’ programme. The government had introduced one-of-its-kind scheme wherein top bureaucrats would inspire and guide young minds to aim high in life. Most of the 15 schools selected for the programme fall in border districts and in far-flung areas, including Pathankot, Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Ferozepur. The mentors will visit and collaborate with their schools over the year and assist students in career counselling, exposure visits, teachers’ training on innovative pedagogy, increasing parental participation, piloting innovative ideas and improving learning environment. Both SSP Maninder Singh and DC Sakshi Sawhney have been individually engaging with students from government schools in the district, inviting them over for office visits for a deeper understanding of administrative and police department functioning. While there has been only one mentorship session conducted till date, the notification seeking these officials to prepare an outcome and assessment report seems to turn this voluntary exercise into a mandatory task. Bihar native arrested with 4 kg ganja Traffic police challaned 6,800 from Jan to May-end this year Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 2 The police have arrested a man with 4 kg of ganja. The accused, identified as Shalinder Shah, son of Bhola Shah, a resident of Madhopur village in Bihar, was apprehended by a team led by Inspector Shaminderjit Singh, in-charge, DDivision police station, along with Sub-Inspector (SI) Darshan Kumar and colleagues. ACP (Central) Jaspal Singh said a police party was on patrol near Parshuram Chowk when they intercepted Shalinder Shah and recovered 4 kg of ganja from him. The 34-year-old accused is currently a tenant in Gali Number 4, Dairy Complex, near Ganda Nala, Jhabal Road, Amritsar. The accused will be produced before a court and police remand will be sought to ascertain his backward and forward links, said the official, he said. Amritsar, July 2 As schools reopen after the summer break, the traffic police have once again reminded the schools and educational institutions to impress upon the students to comply with traffic norms. Addressing a high-level meeting on road safety, Additional Deputy Commissioner Rohit Gupta said every school head is bound to follow the Safe School Vahan rules. He said it is the duty and responsibility of every school head to check the vehicles of children coming to his school whether that vehicle is suitable for the safety of children or whether it is fulfilling the rules set by the government. The Additional Deputy Commissioner directed the municipal corporation officials to get broken, malfunctioning traffic lights fixed and ensure that the traffic lights at all busy crossings work properly and seamlessly. Additional Deputy Commissioner Rohit Gupta holds a meeting with officials regarding road safety in Amritsar on Wednesday. He said road accidents are mostly happening due to the presence of stray animals on roads and it is very important to control stray animals from coming on roads. He asked the officials to install signboards around roads so that tourists from outside do not face any problem. During the meeting, SubInspector (Traffic) Rajinder Singh said from January 1, 2025, to May 31, 2025, 6,800 challans have been issued for violating traffic rules and a large amount of fines have been collected. A majority of these challans were issued for not wearing helmets and underage driving. Police teams have been constituted, which will remain present outside colleges and schools to check traffic violations. MC to digitise employees’ records, DC, Rintu, MC officials review cleanliness of Panorama salary processing via IHRMS Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 2 The Amritsar Municipal Corporation has taken a significant step towards digitising its employees’ records and salary processing by implementing the Integrated Human Resource Management System (IHRMS) Portal. MC Additional Commissioner Surinder Singh has issued written orders to all department heads and deputy heads, stating that salaries for June 2025 (payable in July 2025) would only be processed through bills prepared via the IHRMS Portal. This move aims to prevent irregularities in salaries and service records of employees across various departments, he said. Surinder Singh emphasized that the government has directed all service records of employees to be uploaded on the IHRMS portal, enabling employees to view their own records online. He said the MC has strictly instructed that any salary bills prepared without using the IHRMS portal will not be approved. The clerks who fail to prepare salary bills via the portal will face disciplinary action, including a charge sheet and suspension. He said complaints about lost service records and discrepancies in salary bills have regularly been received from employees. In the past, a clerk was suspended for similar irregularities. The MC has uploaded all records on the portal and instructed officials to approve only bills prepared through it. The MC Additional Commissioner stated that the implementation of the IHRMS portal is expected to bring transparency and efficiency to the salary processing system, ensuring that employees receive their salaries accurately and on time. Amritsar, July 2 Days after The Tribune highlighted the appalling conditions of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Panorama, Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney and Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) Chairman Karamjit Singh Rintu along with civic body officials reviewed the cleanliness of the Panorama and took stock of the situation here on Wednesday. They reviewed sanitary conditions at the Panorama located in the Ram Bagh, popularly known as Company Bagh. Amritsar Improvement Trust Chairman Karamjit c m y b Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney and AIT Chairman Karamjit Singh Rintu conduct a joint inspection at the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Panorama at Company Bagh in Amritsar on Wednesday. Singh Rintu, Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney and MC Additional Commissioner Surinder Singh conducted a joint inspection of the site. Rintu directed officials to pay special attention to cleanliness and upkeep of the Panorama. He stated that this unique site showcases the glorious era of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and serves as a major attraction for tourists. The Deputy Commissioner instructed municipal corporation officials to install CCTV cameras around the Panorama to further improve sanitation. She also recommended the installing of a new air-conditioning system inside the facility. She noted that every day, thousands of devotees visit the holy city and many tourists also come to see the Panorama. Therefore, its proper maintenance must be ensured so that visitors do not face any inconvenience. MC Additional Commissioner Surinder Singh brought to the Deputy Commissioner’s attention that the Panorama requires a new 250 kVA generator, a 60-ton AC plant, and repair work in Drama Halls 1, 2, and 3. Acting on this, the Deputy Commissioner instructed that the renovation of the Panorama be initiated immediately and assured that any arising issues be brought directly to her notice. Present on the occasion were SE of the municipal corporation Sandeep Singh, Dr Yogesh Kumar and other officials.