26072025-ATR-01.qxd 25-07-2025 22:48 Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY GND HOSPITAL FINED FOR FAILING TO REMOVE WASTE PANTOMATH HOSTS POWER PACKED FORUM NEW WAVE OF ACTION CINEMA ISN’T JUST FLEXING MUSCLES The MC has issued a bill of Rs 16,832 to GNDH for the removal of garbage found in hospital premises. P2 Pantomath Capital Advisors, in association with The Tribune, hosted the Business Excellence Awards 2025. P2 If you've been anywhere near a cinema lately, you may have noticed one thing, action films are having a moment. P4 » » » MAX 34°C | MIN 28°C YESTERDAY MAX 33°C | MIN 27°C SUNSET SATURDAY 7.30 PM SUNRISE SUNDAY 5.42 AM SATURDAY | 26 JULY 2025 | AMRITSAR Govt releases ~1.98 crore for Ajnala fire station upgrade Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 25 Ajnala MLA Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal on Friday said the Punjab Government has released Rs 1.98 crore for the upgrade of the fire station in Ajnala. Also, the second instalment of Rs 3 crore out of the Rs 9 crore approved by the government for the streets and drains of Ajnala city has also been received. Dhaliwal said the government has released an Rs 1.5 crore for the Ramdas municipal council to get civic works done. “Previously, for the work of 260 street lights to be installed in Ajnala, we saved Rs 26.67 lakh. We are focused on completing civic development and upgrade of MC works at the earliest,” he said. The government has approved Rs 3 crore for the development works in Ajnala city. A sum of Rs 1.90 crore has been released for the reconstruction of the fire station in Ajnala. Soon, Ajnala will get a new fire station and another fire brigade vehicle. Besides, 10 drains and Food adulteration causing concern, residents want checks on milk quality Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service MLA Kuldeep Dhaliwal (centre) addresses mediapersons in Ajnala on Friday. bridges will also be constructed in various villages of Ajnala to overcome the problem of inundation of farm fields. Farmers in the constituency had complained that due to the onset of the rains, water floods agriculture fields of many villages and due to the closure of roads, it was very difficult to move from one place to another. Dhaliwal took stock of the vil- lages where damages caused by rain had been reported. He toured Surapur, Tera and various other villages and said construction of bridges at more than 10 places after conducting a survey will be done. Additionally, sports stadiums are also being built at 12 villages of Ajnala constituency where players who have played for the country will be coaching youngsters. Amritsar, July 25 A day after unearthing a unit manufacturing spurious desi ghee, people have urged the government to check the quality of milk being supplied to households and the stock available in the open market. According to the Food Safety and Standards Rules (2011), all packaged foods— including milk—must carry a label that includes the brand name, nutritional information, storage instructions and shelf life. Yet, the share of loose milk is considerably high in the city. The Public Adulteration Welfare Association found widespread adulteration a pressing issue, affecting items of essential daily consumption like milk, tea, cooking oil and medicines. While offenders continue to endanger public health, nearly 50 per cent of daily food con- Milk being stored in a commercial refrigerator at a shop in Amritsar on Friday. sumption is reported as adulterated at an annual rate of 22 per cent, it found. The Association found a significant increase in the number of patients suffering from ailments linked to adulterated food. Estimates suggested that 30 to 40 per cent of admissions were related to unsafe food products. A city Challenges galore in child protection programme PROJECT JEEVANJYOT 2.0 Neha Saini Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 25 Social Security, Women and Child Development minister Dr Baljit Kaur had launched Jeevanjyot 2.0 with the aim of checking child trafficking and busting the begging trap that runs deep in the state. With a policy to conduct DNA tests on children found begging on the streets, particularly those accompanied by adults, this initiative is part of a broader effort to create a “beggar-free” Punjab and ensure the safety and security of children. But on ground, challenges remain for the District Child Protection Units as despite rounding up child beggars off streets, the verification and rehabilitation process remains unsuccessful. After three child beggars escaped from Pingalwara’s care home on the intervening night of July 23 and 24, despite the security, District Child Protection Officer Taranjit Singh claims that Project Jeevanjyot 2 has been a success in terms of displacing or removing beggars off the streets at various parts of the city. “We have been One nabbed in case of attack on lawyer Police team attacked, case filed against 12 Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 25 Around 12 persons were booked on charges of attempt to murder after they attacked at a police party, which had come to resolve a dispute between two groups indulging in hurling bricks, stones and glass bottles at each other in Fatehpur Rajputa village along the national highway falling under the Jandiala Guru police station here on Thursday. Among those booked were identified as Karanbir Singh, his brother Jasmine Singh, Amritpal Singh, his brother Arshdeep Singh, their father Joga Singh, Bhupinder Singh, alias Bhinda, Akashdeep Singh, his brother Jaspreet Singh, Ajaydeep Singh and his brother Harpreet Singh, all residents of Bal Kalan village. Assistant Sub-Inspector Tarsem Singh, in charge, Nawa Pind police post, lodged a complaint in this connection. He said he was present at Adda Dadduana village when Amritsar, July 25 Four days after a lawyer, Lakhwinder Singh, was shot at by armed persons in the Jandiala Guru area, the police have arrested one of the suspects in the case. Superintendent of Police (Investigations) Aditya Warrior said after analysing the footage of CCTVs in the area, one of the shooter was identified as Lovepreet Singh, a resident of the city. “After hard efforts by the Jandiala Guru police, he has been arrested. His interrogation was in progress and his accomplices have also been identified. Raids were on to nab them,” said Warrior. He said the incident was the outcome of personal enmity and it was not some gangster-related instance as being earlier reported. “It was neither the monetary dispute nor gang war, the firing was the result of some personal enmity,” said Warrior. Child beggars can still be seen in the Rambagh area in Amritsar on Friday. taking into custody the perpetrators of begging mafias in various parts of city and after our action against woman beggars and child beggars, several locations like Ranjit Avenue and the Lawrence Road seem clear of any begging activity. But we have been now focused he received a call from helpline number 112 about the two families quarrelling with each other at the Fatehpur Rajputa bus stop. A large number of supporters from both the groups had gathered and were throwing bricks, stones and glass bottles at each other. The incident led to a traffic jam on the national highway leading to Mehta. He said he along with his police team reached the spot and tried to pacify both the groups by appealing to stop pelting stones. However, they attacked the police party and they had ask for more police force to disperse the fighting groups. He said Mangal Singh, sarpanch of Fatehpur Rajputa village, and Ranjit Singh, sarpanch of Fatehpur Khurd village, said both the groups called their supporters from outside and started fighting with each other leading to the traffic jam. The police said raids were on to nab the accused. — TNS on religious places as we have received complaints even from the SGPC regarding abandoned children indulging in begging on the Heritage Street and around the Jallianwala Bagh,” he said. Taranjit Singh said in Amritsar, for the last one year, Heroin, drone seized in Tarn Taran Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, July 25 The Khalra police and the Border Security Force (BSF) in a joint search operation in the field of a farmer of Dall village have recovered 467 grams of heroin and an imported drone here. Khalra SHO Inspector Ranjit Singh said here on Friday that information in this regard was given by farmer Harchand Singh of Dall village that a packet wrapped with a yellow tape was lying in his fields. During the search operation, teams of the police and the BSF recovered the heroin and the drone thrown from the Pakistan side and also recovered 467 grams of heroin with 77 grams of packing material. The police have registered a case under Sections 21-C, 61 and 85 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and Sections 10, 11 and 12 of the Aircraft Act. c m y b 26 children have been rescued from begging racket and reunited with their families. Meanwhile, many kids manage to escape the child care homes or end up on streets after a few months. “Children, not adult perpetrators, often are treated as criminals. There are only 10 CCIs approved in Punjab that take in rescued kids for immediate shelter and rehabilitation. The process to verify facts shared by the children take at least month or two and most of these kids manipulate officials or share wrong information,” said Anmol, a psychologist and counsellor at DCPU, Amritsar. She had been working on counselling the rescued five kids at Pingalwara. DCPO Taranjit Singh added, “By the time these child beggars are rescued and reach shelter homes, they are already manipulated to hide facts from us.” resident Rajesh Mahajan says there has been a mushrooming growth in the number of private hospitals in each corner of the city. Similarly, shops, kiosks and carts serving ready-to-eat snacks and dairies dealing with milk products have surged remarkably. He sought strict laws to keep a tab on adulter- ated and sub-standard milk. Transparency regarding FSSAI inspections and penalties, besides a review of laws to push for zero- tolerance towards adulteration, could lead to visible changes, he suggested. Harminder Singh, an expert, said overlooking details like improper storage or negligence regarding shelf life can lead to quality deterioration and potential food safety issues. To help consumers identify adulterated milk, Ludhianabased Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) introduced a milk-testing kit. It detects five common adulterants—sugar, starch, urea, neutraliser and hydrogen peroxide. The kits are priced at Rs 224, Rs 448 and Rs 2,800 depending on the size. In addition, consumers should also take active steps to store milk and all milk-based products in a refrigerator at temperatures below 5°C until consumption in their home. Assistant Food Commissioner Rajinderpal Singh said his department did not come across any spurious milk in the city so far. He added that cases of substandard milk were seized and action was undertaken against the violators. Workers upset over no increase in budget for NREGA work Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, July 25 NREGA workers from across the district under the banner of NREGA Rozgar Prapat Mazdoor Union (AITUC), Punjab, organised a demonstration in front of the District Administrative Complex (DAC) here on Friday. They expressed resentment over the indifferent attitude of the Union Government towards the NREGA scheme. Communist Party of India (CPI) national leader Prithipal Singh Marimegha and NREGA Workers’ Union district leader Gurdial Singh were among others who addressed on the occasion. Expressing annoyance over such a disappointing attitude of the Union Government, the leaders alleged it indicates that the government is going to wind up the scheme. They said the Union Government has not increased the NREGA budget in the present session, rather it has imposed certain restrictions on job work. They said under the restrictions, workers have been deprived of work regarding canals and drainage under the NREGA scheme. They said bureaucracy is allegedly busy in lining their own pockets by adopting unfair means regarding NREGA works. Even though an announcement regarding the amount to be spent on NREGA had been made, no work is being carried out here. They alleged that NREGA workers are not getting jobs on demand nor are they being given unemployment allowance. Balkar Singh Valtoha, Gurpreet Singh Gandiwind, Rupinder Kaur Marimegha and Seema Sohal were among others who addressed on the occasion and stressed the need for providing work for 200 days in a year, increasing daily wages to Rs 1,000, and starting unemployment allowance in case the job is not given on demand. The leaders demanded the early payment of the wages soon after the completion of the work. Malta envoy visits Khalsa College, explores student exchange, academic tie-ups Amritsar, July 25 Historically, the presence of Indians in Malta, a small Mediterranean island nation, has been limited and quite recent, unlike other parts of the world. But the two countries share enough history to build their future relations on. Malta High Commissioner Reuben Gauci, who visited the historic Khalsa College campus today, shared some facets of this shared history as he interacted with students and faculty. His visit was primarily with the aim of exploring cultural and academic ties with Punjab and India. “Both India and Malta were once part of the British colonial empire and we also share historical ties with Punjab,” he said. The High Commissioner traced the roots of the relationships between the two countries in the last quarter of the 19th century during the colonial period when Malta hosted British Indian troops on their way to Cyprus to support Turkey against Russian threats. Malta High Commissioner Reuben Gauci at Khalsa College in Amritsar on Friday. “Indian soldiers largely comprised Sikhs, and in World War I and World War II, passed through or were stationed at Malta as it was part of the British armed forces. We also share significant trade and commerce ties through the Bahiband Jati, a small but significant Hindu Sindhi community, known as Indian Maltese community, who began arriving in Malta in late 20th century and set up businesses in Malta. They contributed significantly to trade, culture and social exchange between the two countries,” said Gauci. Gauci, who shared interest in extending academic ties and collaboration with Khalsa College, was apprised about the academic activities and achievements of the college by principal Dr Atam Randhawa. Dr Randhawa said that the potential academic collaboration between two countries is a welcome step. “Diplomatic relations between the two countries was established in 1965 only after Malta gained independence from its colonial master Britain. Thereafter, both the countries made frequent efforts to develop trade relations and people-to-people contacts. It is imperative that we capitalise on exploring student exchange and academic collaborations with Malta as it is one of the upcoming study destination, especially for students from Punjab.” Gauci argued that India and Malta have vast potential to develop bilateral relations in the field of trade and investment, maritime cooperation, renewable energy, textile industry, pharmaceutical industry, tourism and peopleto-people cultural contacts. Malta is a Schengen country, meaning that no additional travel visa is required for other Schengen member countries including Italy, Germany, France and more. Also, Malta has seen the highest student visa approval rate in recent few years, opening doors for international students. — TNS