25092025-JTR-01.qxd 9/24/2025 10:50 PM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar tribune HOSHIARPUR STRUGGLES WITH FESTERING GARBAGE CRISIS Residents suffer as waste piles up, councillors urge govt to meet workers’ demands. P2 » NEW SCHOOL OFFERS HOPE FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS INDIAN FILM FEST OF SYDNEY TO SHOWCASE RESTORED SHOLAY It has been established as a dedicated space for therapies, special education and life-skills training. P3 The IFFS has announced that the newly restored version of Sholay will be its centrepiece film this October. P4 » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 34°C | MIN 24°C YESTERDAY MAX 35°C | MIN 24°C SUNSET WEDNESDAY 6.20 PM SUNRISE THURSDAY 6:18 AM » THURSDAY | 25 SEPTEMBER 2025 | JALANDHAR HEALTH & WELLNESS The Tribune is starting a Q and A column to address your health-related queries. Please mail your questions (not exceeding 40 words) at healthandwellness@tribunemail.com. The Tribune’s panel of doctors will answer all your healthrelated concerns. INBRIEF ACCUSED GIVES POLICE THE SLIP Phagwara: A fresh case has been registered after an accused escaped from police custody. Navi Kumar of Khotrra was facing trial in a case. On September 19, while in the custody of ASI Jaswant Singh, the accused managed to escape. Following the incident, both Navi Kumar and Jaswant have been booked in a fresh case registered at Phagwara police station. Investigations are underway into the circumstances of the escape and the role of the officer concerned. OC 3 SNATCH AGENT'S CASH, PHONES Phagwara: A loan collection agent was allegedly robbed by three youths in Ludhiana district on Tuesday. Complainant Sultan Singh of Phagla in Ladowal works as a collection agent with Satya Micro Capital Limited, Kartarpur. Singh was returning from field collections on June 25 when three motorcycle-borne assailants intercepted him. They reportedly snatched two mobile phones along with ?36,150 that Singh had collected as loan repayments. The robbers fled the spot immediately after the incident. OC Five arrested for firing at village house Our Correspondent Garhshankar, September 24 The police have claimed to arrest five persons in the case of firing at a house in village Dhada Khurd. DSP Jaspreet Singh told mediapersons that the police had received a report that bullets had been fired at the house of Tarsem Singh in village Dhada Khurd. When the police party reached the spot, Parminder Singh alias Pindri, a resident of Dhada Khurd, told him that on the evening of September 12, he was present in his house and heard the sound of vehicles stopping outside the house. Countrymade pistol, cars seized from the accused When he went outside and looked, he saw Jatinder Singh, alias Sonu Bhalwan of village Cheta, Bindi of village Achharwal and Gurjit Singh of village Bharowal came out holding sharp-edged weapons. Jatinder Singh and Gurjit started firing towards his house. When complainant’s relative Didar Singh asked him not to do so, the accused beat him up and one of them shot Didar Singh on his right thigh. A case was registered at Mahilpur police station. DSP Jaspreet Singh said Harvinder, Davinder, Jatinder, Manjit and Bhupinder had been arrested. A countrymade pistol of .32 bore and cars have been recovered from them. Teenaged girl dies by suicide, blames 2 in dying statement Speeding truck runs over scooty rider Our Correspondent Ashok Kaura Talwara, September 24 A speeding truck hit a scooty rider in the nearby village Mangu Maira, leaving the rider died on the spot this after- 17-year-old sent to juvenile home, another held Tribune News Service Jalandhar, September 24 A 15-year-old girl of the Dashmesh Nagar locality has died by suicide and has blamed two youths from the area in her dying declaration presented before the magistrate. While a 17-year-old boy has been sent to juvenile home, the other youth who is 22-yearold was arrested by the Bhargo Camp police late last evening. He was presented in the court today and his remand has been taken by the police. Both of them were barbers in the Bhargo Camp locality. A tiff between the girl and the two youths had occurred on September 10. She has alleged that the two boys intimidated her on September 10 night. They threatened her of being beaten up at her place. Scared, the girl reportedly consumed a poisonous substance at 2 am. The parents of the girl took her to the Civil Hospital from where she was referred to the PGI, Chandigarh. She remained under treatment there for a week. Her family brought her back on September 20 where she gave a dying declaration before the magistrate. She passed away and her last rites were held on Tuesday. The victim had told the magistrate that she was friends with the 17-year-old boy three years ago. “Two months later, I got to know that he had another girlfriend. After a breakup with that girl, he started messaging me again. I again became friends with him. He used to send me messages in midnights too but our relationship was not firm. In the meantime, I became friends with another youth of Bhargo Camp. I forwarded my first friend’s midnight messages to my second friend. At this, they colluded with each other and came against me calling me a flirt and threatening to attack me. I attempted suicide fearing thrashing from both of them”, she said. The magistrate handed over the declaration to SHO, Bhargo Camp, Mohan Lal, who then arrested the youth under Section 108 of the BNS. MC unveils WhatsApp QR code for complaint regn noon. According to witnesses, the truck driver was drunk. People handed over the truck driver to the police. According to information, a speeding truck hit a scooty ridery in the village on the Talwara-Daulatpur main road. The truck was coming from Daulatpur towards Talwara. The deceased has been identified as Jyoti Prakash of Dayana. The accused truck driver has been identified as Amandeep, a resident of Lohara, police station Amb, district Una. The police reached the spot and were investigating. Phagwara, September 24 In a landmark move towards citizen-centric governance, the Municipal Corporation, Phagwara, has become the first civic body in Punjab to introduce a WhatsApp QR code for public grievance registration. Developed in collaboration with Softel Solutions, led by Kunal Sharma, the initiative enables residents to register complaints with unprecedented ease and speed. With this system, citizens can now simply scan a QR code to directly send their grievances through WhatsApp. The process eliminates paperwork and delays, ensuring a quick, transparent, and accessible mechanism for every household. MC Commissioner Dr Akshita Gupta described the initiative as a transformative step in bridging the gap between citizens and governance. “For the first time in Punjab, residents can now scan a QR code and register their complaints instantly. This reflects our commitment to efficiency, accountability, and citizenfirst service delivery. I commend Kunal and the team for their outstanding work in developing this innovation. Their technical expertise and dedication have been crucial in bringing this project to fruition,” she said. Mayor Rampal Uppal termed the launch a milestone in the city’s governance journey. “This initiative empowers citizens to voice their concerns directly and ensures that every grievance is addressed swiftly. It brings municipal services closer to the people and sets a benchmark for transparent and responsive governance,” he said. The WhatsApp QR Code system marks a significant digital advancement for Phagwara, positioning the city as a frontrunner in adopting technology-driven civic solutions. Officials expressed confidence that this model would serve as a precedent for other municipalities across Punjab to replicate. The Municipal Corporation has urged residents to actively utilise the facility, underscoring its potential to improve complaint redressal timelines and strengthen citizen-government engagement. As water recedes, 1,000 trolleys line up to strengthen embankments Month on, ring bundh breach at Aahli Khurd plugged Aparna Banerji Sultanpur Lodhi, September 24 Tribune News Service A month since the video of the sarpanch of Aahli Khurd had gone viral wherein he was seen crying standing along a ring bundh which had just breached, a team of MP Balbir Singh Seechewal and volunteers have managed to get it plugged on Tuesday. The 750-m long breach had developed on the ring bundh which had destroyed paddy on about 30,000 acres in the Baupur Mand area of Sultanpur Lodhi. With the completion of the bundh, the flow of Beas into the fields has been stopped. Shamsher Singh, sarpanch of the village, said, “It was on August 24 that the bundh had developed a breach. People from the area had been working hard since July to protect it. When it breached on the morning of August 24, the farmers, who had been struggling to save it, were left heartbroken. The video of the breach spread so rapidly that Jalandhar, September 24 In the wake of receding flood waters, bundh strengthening efforts are in full swing across several villages in Sultanpur Lodhi, Kapurthala. Over 1,000 tractor-trolleys have joined the cause, contributing sand and diesel as part of the sewa. Following months of long queues for ration and supply vehicles at the Baupur bundh, an unprecedented wave of community mobilisation - spanning Punjab and beyond - is now powering kar sewa at these sites. The collective effort aims to restore the bundhs and help farmers regain their footing. Farmers say the huge sewa fills them with hope in taxing times. Hundreds from the Doaba, Malwa and Majha work day and night to plug bundh breaches which flooded across over 100 villages at Kapurthala, from August 11. At Sultanpur Lodhi, the People work to strengthen the bundh in Sultanpur Lodhi. TRIBUNE PHOTO: MALKIAT SINGH most intense bundh restoration activity is underway at village Baupur, where a breach over a kilometer long is being addressed with the help of more than 50 volunteers and multiple JCB machines. Significant efforts are also ongoing at Chak and Ahli Kalan villages, where breaches range from 250 to 300 metres. Addi- tionally, a 100-metre-long breach at Baupur was plugged just two days ago. Locals say over 50 tractors and trolleys bring in truckloads of soil, sand sacks and diesel daily from Faridkot, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Kapurthala and even from Haryana. A spot near Kabirpur Mandi in Sultanpur Lodhi witnesses the preparation of thousands of sacks of sand which are then picked up by volunteers for the bundhs. Baba Sukha Singh and his army of volunteers from the Sarhali Dera are rendering service at bundhs in the Doaba, Malwa and Majha. Over 250 Sarhai Dera volunteers work in the Doaba alone. Tribune News Service Allottees up in arm against JIT over ~70 cr refund Not getting due payment even after favourable judgment by various courts, say allottees Tribune News Service Jalandhar, September 24 The Joint Action Committee of allottees of various schemes of the Jalandhar Improvement Trust is up in arms against the state government for not returning Rs 70 crore to them despite consumer court orders in their favour. Office-bearers of the Surya Enclave Extension Welfare Society, Bibi Bhani Complex Allottees Association, Indrapuram Flat Owners Welfare and Development Society and Master Gurbanta Singh Enclave Society said after the favourable orders from the court, 250 executions were also being pursued in vari- ous courts, still JIT officials had not returned their dues. They alleged that the Trust need to pay Rs 7 crore annually as interest on these dues. Jatinder Mohan Sharma, president of the Surya Enclave Extension Welfare Society, said, “We received payments of about Rs 28 crore in Covid times. The Trust then owed Rs 110 crore to the banks, which was cleared by borrowing Rs 50 c m y b crore each from the Amritsar and Ludhiana Improvement Trusts. Even in the present scenario, the Trust can borrow and refund the amounts of allottees. The Trust has properties worth crores at its disposal which can be auctioned to clear the accrued amounts”. Darshan Singh, president of the Bibi Bhani Complex Allottees Association, said, “The courts have issued several non-bailable warrants against Trust officials, but to no avail. Many allottees have expired and their widows are compelled to run from pillar and post to get the amount. They have given all their life’s savings to the Trust. All of us, who are allottees from 2006 to 2106, are forced to wait endlessly for our payments, inspite of the court orders which is indeed shameful.” They further said many bank accounts of the JIT have been attached as per the court orders. “We appeal to the government to refund our amounts at the earliest”, the allottees have said. They have also flagged that another serious concern is the files going missing in the JIT office. “It takes many days to locate every file. We had pinned high hopes on the Aam Aadmi Party for redressal of our grievances”, said Revant Behl, secretary, Surya Enclave Extension Welfare Society. TRACTORS NEEDED TO CLEAN FIELDS MP Balbir Seechewal stated that the broken ring bundh at Aahli Kalan was the second bundh out of the eight breached embankments in Baupur to have been plugged. He said efforts to plug the remaining breaches would soon begin. He further explained that the biggest challenge is removing the 3 to 4 feet of silt deposited in farmers’ fields. Seechewal appealed to the people to come with tractors and diesel and help farmers remove silt and make their fields cultivable. messages of sympathy started pouring in not just from Punjab, but also from across the world. Without waiting for any official help, people began bringing trolleys of soil to fill the breach. A large amount of earth had been collected near the gurdwara of Aahli Kalan.” Shamsher Singh and Ranjit Singh said it had brought them a huge relief as the ring bundh had been completed. To reach the breached point, a large amount of earth had to be placed along the routes to make access easier. They said the teams of Avtar Singh, head sevadar of Sampardai Dal Baba Bidhi Chand, Baba Sukha Singh of Sarhali and Seechewal, the people of Aahli Kalan, Ahli Khurd, and other villages of the mand region played an active role in this effort. Outrage after woman’s death, kin blame hubby Phagwara, September 24 A young woman’s mysterious death in Phagwara has sparked outrage and her family staged a protest outside the Civil Hospital after bringing her body there in an ambulance. According to relatives and local leaders, Muskan, a resident of Rawalpindi village, had been married to Sunny but their relationship was strained due to frequent domestic disputes. On the day of the incident, the couple reportedly went to a village well, where both allegedly consumed a toxic substance. They were rushed to the Civil Hospital in Phagwara and later referred to Jalandhar due to their critical condition. Muskan’s condition deterio- rated further, and she was shifted to Ludhiana, where she died during treatment. Family members accused Sunny of foul play, claiming he forcibly made Muskan consume the substance and assaulted her, leading to her death. They further alleged that Sunny had an illicit relationship with another woman, which was the main source of the marital discord. Griefstricken relatives demanded stern action against him and vowed to continue their fight until justice is served. DSP Bharat Bhushan assured the family that the police are conducting a fair investigation and no guilty will be spared. A case has been registered. — OC