07042026-JTR-01.qxd 4/6/2026 10:46 PM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar tribune FARMERS DEMAND ROLLBACK OF ELECTRICITY, SEED BILLS GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS OFFER INDUSTRY-FOCUSED COURSES CHANDIGARH-BASED LABEL IBAI CHAMPIONS FASHION Acting on a call by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, farmers staged a protest outside the SDM office in Garhshankar. P2 Two government schools are offering vocational courses aimed at equipping students with industry relevant skills.P3 Fashion label Ibai at House-75, Sector 2, Chandigarh, offers intricate Jamdani to airy Chanderi and bold Ikat. P4 » » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 31°C | MIN 16°C YESTERDAY MAX 31°C | MIN 16°C SUNSET TUESDAY 6.50 PM SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 6:08 AM TUESDAY | 7 APRIL 2026 | JALANDHAR Two masked youths loot ~7L at gunpoint from PNB 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. Varjeet Walia Jalandhar DC INBRIEF 3 NABBED WITH 709 G NARCOTICS Hoshiarpur: The Garhshankar police have arrested three individuals and recovered 709 gram of narcotic substance during a checking operation near the Panam canal bridge. The incident occurred when a police team was conducting routine patrol and checking suspicious persons along the canal road towards village Panam. During the operation, three youths on a motorcycle were spotted approaching from the Sikanderpur side. On noticing the police vehicle, they allegedly attempted to flee. The two riders threw away packets and tried to escape, but the police acted swiftly and apprehended them. Upon checking the discarded packets and another packet recovered from their possession, the police seized 709 gram of narcotic substance. A case has been registered against all three accused under the NDPS Act. oc HUSBAND HELD IN DOWRY CASE Phagwara: The Shahkot police have arrested Simarjit Singh of Vadali Dogran village under Jandiala Guru police station in Amritsar in a dowry case. Complainant Parjindar Kaur of Narangpur village had filed a complaint to the SSP, Jalandhar (rural), that her husband Simarjit Singh, father -in-law and mother in-law had been harassing her, demanding more dowry. Simarjit's father and mother were arrested earlier. OC Teachers union burns the effigy of the state govt in Jalandhar. Teachers hold protest over TET issue Tribune News Service Jalandhar, April 6 Escalating their agitation against the state government, several teacher unions, under the banner of the ‘Sanjha Adhyapak Morcha Punjab’ staged a protest in Jalandhar on Monday. The protesting teachers expressed resentment over the failure to bring a Bill in the Vidhan Sabha on the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) issue and the delay in filing a review petition in the Supreme Court, both of which, they said, had been promised by the Education Minister during earlier meetings with union representatives. As part of their demonstration, the protesters also burnt the effigy of the government, symbolically expressing their anger. Addressing a gathering, union leaders Navpreet Singh Balli, Karnail Phillaur, Mangat Singh and Teerath Singh Bassi said the government’s inaction had created uncertainty among teachers regarding their service security. “The promise to safeguard teachers’ job through legislative and legal measures has not been honoured. The absence of any discussion on TET in the Assembly clearly reflects the government’s lack of intent,” they alleged. The protesters further accused the government of failing to fulfil other commitments made to employees. They pointed out that the promise to restore the Old Pension Scheme for employees remains unfulfilled, while the pending 16 per cent DA has not been released. Another key demand raised during the protest was the withdrawal of non-academic duties assigned to teachers, which, according to the unions, continue to hamper classroom teaching and burden already stretched staff. Jalandhar, April 6 Nearly two years after assuming charge as the Deputy Commissioner of Jalandhar, Himanshu Aggarwal has been transferred to Patiala as its new DC. He has swapped positions with his four-year junior, 2018 batch IAS officer, Varjeet Walia. Walia had cleared his IAS examination in 2017 getting the 21st rank in the country. He is now 34 and has served on various positions such as DC, Patiala, DC, Ropar and Additional Principal Secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office. He had also held the post as Additional CEO of the Punjab Bureau of Investment Promotion. An alumnus of IIT-Delhi, he has passed out B.Tech in chemical engineering from there. His father Varinder Singh Walia is the Editor of Punjabi daily. In the rejig, Kapurthala too has got a new Deputy Commissioner. Amit Kumar Panchal, who was posted in the district since January 2024, has now been posted as DC, Muktsar. His position has been taken by Aakash Bansal, the 2019 batch IAS officer, who was serving in Mansa. TWO ARRESTED UNDER NDPS ACT Phagwara: The Shahkot police have arrested two persons for selling intoxicating tablets. As many as 45 intoxicating tablets were recovered from the possession of the accused, identified as Ajay and Gurpreet of Sarangwal village. A case has been registered under Sections 22/ 61/85 of the NDPS Act against the accused. OC TWO ARRESTED WITH DRUGS Phagwara: The Kapurthala police have arrested two youths in separate cases involving the recovery of narcotic substances, officials said on Monday. In the first case, the accused Sunny of Bhanura Kalan was arrested after the recovery of seven gram of heroin from him. In another incident, Dalip Kumar of Satnampura was also arrested. recovered 42 intoxicating tablets from his possession. oc Jalandhar, April 6 Two masked youths looted cash estimated to be between Rs 5-7 lakh at gunpoint from the cashier of the Punjab National Bank branch in Bank Enclave near Kuki Dhab this afternoon. The youths came on a scooter around 2:30 pm and had their faces covered with handkerchiefs. One of them stood outside while the other went to the window of the cashier, pointed pistol at him and collected the cash. Putting the cash in their bag, the youth came out and fled on the scooter. Three-four customers were present on the bank premises when the incident occurred. The entire incident was captured on CCTV cameras installed inside and outside the bank. Deputy Commissioner of Police (investigation) Manpreet Dhillon reached the spot. He checked the footages with his team. “We found it in the video that the cashier initially resisted giving away the cash but when the gun was pointed at him, he gave up. The loot was made within one minute. We are collecting all technical evidences available to nail the accused. This was the handiwork of two persons only”, he said. ADCP (investigation) Technical glitch leaves visitors fuming in MC MAN HELD FOR TAKING HEROIN Phagwara: The Nakodar Sadar police have arrested a person on the charge of consuming heroin.The accused has been identified as Arash Deep Singh of Nurpur Chatha village. A lighter, silver paper and plastic pipe used for consuming contraband were recovered from his possession. A case under Sections 27/61/85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against the accused. OC Tribune News Service A police team with dog squad at a school in Jalandhar on Monday. TRIBUNE PHOTOGRAPH Threat e-mails to 3 city schools Jalandhar, April 6 In a fourth incident of the kind, threat e-mails were sent to three private schools of the city on Monday morning. The three schools are Mayor World School, MGN Public School in Adarsh Nagar and Delhi Public School. The Commissionerate Police dispatched teams to all three schools this morning for checking but found nothing objectionable. As similar e-mail threats had earlier turned out to be hoax calls on three occasions, schools were allowed to operate normally on Monday. Classes continued without interruption, and students were not informed while they were on campus to avoid panic. Principal Kanwaljit S Randhawa of MGN School said thorough checking was done on the campus by the police after the e-mail. Rajesh Mayor, owner of Mayor World School, said, “The Principal’s office did not directly get an email. The police teams contacted us with information. The teams came in but found nothing suspicious”. The three previous e-mails came in December, February and March. — TNS Phagwara, April 6 Several residents visiting the MC office to deposit their property tax on Monday faced inconvenience and returned frustrated due to a technical glitch in the system. Chander Mohan Sharma said he makes it a point to deposit his property tax on time every year. He visited the MC office to pay his property tax but was left disappointed due to the non-functional server. Sharma stated that the MC staff informed him that the server was down and, despite his request, refused to accept the payment manually. He added that the staff expressed helplessness, leaving many residents stranded. Commissioner, MC, Phagwara, Shikha Bhagat said the issue had been taken up with the Chandigarh IT team. The software is being updated. OC The police during investigation at PNB branch in Jalandhar on Monday. PHOTOS: MALKIAT SINGH Jayant Puri, ADCP-2 Rakesh Yadav, ACP Aatish Bhatia, and SHO of Police Division No. 6 Kulwinder Singh, CIA staff Inspector Surinder Kumar and forensic teams also reached the site for investigation. There was no guard in the bank when the incident occurred. The police have been repeatedly instructing the banks to keep their guards posted to avoid such incidents. The bank was locked from inside after the loot for the police and staff to carry out investigation. Ex-block chief of AAP joins BSP Tribune News Service Jalandhar, April 6 AAP former constituency coordinator and block president from the Adampur constituency Boota Singh Patara joined the BSP in the presence of BSP state president Dr Avtar Singh Karimpuri on Monday. Adampur is now being nurtured by party general secretary Balwinder Kumar, who had recently got appointed as the halqa in-charge. Patara said he and his associates worked very hard to bring AAP to power but AAP did not value grassroots workers like him. He said he felt that the BSP was working for the welfare of all sections of Punjab through its strong cadre in the state and hence decided to join the BSP along with his associates. Karimpuri said the BSP had BSP president Avtar Singh Karimpuri with new entrant. organised a massive rally in the Doaba region on March 15 at Behram, Banga constituency, on the birth anniversary of the party’s founder Shri Kanshi Ram, and now rallies will be started in the Malwa region. BSP will hold rallies in Malwa -- on April 9 in Budhlada, April 10 in Nihal Singh Wala (Faridkot), April 11 in Ferozepur, and April 14 in Dhuri, the constituency of the Chief Minister. On the same day, a rally will also be held at Talwandi Sabo. 2 women looted of gold, phones at knifepoint Phagwara, March 6 In a brazen daylight robbery, two motorcycle-borne assailants allegedly targeted two women and decamped with gold jewellery and mobile phones between the villages of Ghudka and Pandwa near here. Kamaljeet Kaur and Suman were returning to their native village Rurki Kalan on a scooter from Phagwara when the incident occurred. Midway, the accused, riding a motorcycle, forced them to stop. Brandishing a sharp-edged weapon, the assailants threatened the women and snatched a gold chain, a ring, two pairs of earrings and two expensive mobile phones before fleeing the spot. The victims were wearing 2 or 3 tolas of gold at the time, putting the total loss at Rs 6 lakh. Police officials said a probe has been initiated. — OC To check worker exodus, Jalandhar to set up camps for 5-kg gas cylinders Rishika Kriti Tribune News Service Jalandhar, April 6 In an attempt to provide immediate respite and stop the migration of workforce from Jalandhar amid the ongoing cooking gas crisis, the District Food and Civil Supplies Department has announced the setting up of special camps from Tuesday to distribute 5 kg free trade LPG cylinders. The move comes against the backdrop of growing distress among migrant workers, many of whom do not have LPG connections and were left with no option but to purchase cylinders in the black market at highly inflated rates. This not only strained their already limited incomes, but also triggered a wave of migration, with several workers returning to their native places in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar due to the unavailability of affordable cooking gas. Hence to resolve the situation, officials said the department has coordinated with industrial units across the city to ensure easy access, allowing any worker to walk into these camps and avail the cylinders by simply producing their Aadhaar card. Narinder Singh, District Food Supplies Controller (Jalandhar), said, “We are pro- viding these cylinders under the Central Government’s guidelines on petroleum products. As oil marketing companies have restricted the release of new gas connections amid the supply crunch, this step will bring relief to those who are struggling to access cooking fuel.” He added that the department has written to the oil marketing companies to ensure adequate availability of 5 kg free trade cylinders, with particular focus on the migrant workforce. “To make the process hassle-free, we have coordinated with local industries and decided to organise camps from Tuesday. c m y b It will also help us verify the identity of workers engaged here. Under the initiative, one cylinder will be provided per family,” Singh said. Reportedly, the migrant workers, who do not possess an LPG connection, will be required to pay Rs 1,517 to get a new 5 kg cylinder under the scheme. However, for those already having a cylinder, refilling it will cost around Rs 573, making it a relatively affordable option. The administration hopes the initiative will stabilise the workforce situation and provide much-needed relief to industries dependent on migrant labour. Any worker can get cylinder by producing Aadhaar card Gas agencies distribute 5kg cylinders to migrants in Jalandhar.