05012024-LT-01.qxd 1/5/2024 1:11 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune DEED WRITER ARRESTED FOR DEMANDING ~10K BRIBE NUPUR JOGS TO WEDDING VENUE TO MARRY IRA Aamir Khan’s daughter Ira took to her Instagram stories, where she shared a picture with her hubby. P4 PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 16°C | MIN 6°C YESTERDAY MAX 9.6°C | MIN 5.6°C BRITNEY SAYS SHE IS NOT WORKING ON NEW ALBUM VB nabbed deed writer Jaspal Singh for allegedly seeking a bribe of ~10K in name of revenue officials. P2 FORECAST Pop star Britney Spears debunks rumours that she is working on a new album in a social media post. P4 » » SUNSET FRIDAY 5.38 PM SUNRISE SATURDAY 7:25 AM » FRIDAY | 5 JANUARY 2024 | LUDHIANA Doc fined ~50L for violating undertaking Ludhiana, January 4 Taking serious note of a doctor who remained absent from duty for over five years, Civil Surgeon Jasbir Singh Aulakh has directed him to pay a compensation of Rs 50 lakh for violating the undertaking signed by him. If a govt doc pursues an MD or MS, he or she has to submit an undertaking of serving Health Dept for 10 years or pay ~50L bond amount If a government doctor pursues an MD or MS, he is required to submit an undertaking of serving the Health Department for 10 years or pay Rs 50 lakh bond amount. In 2014, the doctor from Community Health Centre, Mamdot, went to pursue MS in orthopaedics under the government quota. On July 7, 2017, the doctor presented himself on duty at CHC, Dehlon. He had given the undertaking to the government that either he would complete ten years of service in the Health Department or pay Rs 50 lakh in case he left the job. The doctor has been absent from duty without any valid reason since March 12, 2018. “The doctor was violating the bond clause. He was asked to rejoin duty but he did not pay heed, following which he was given a warning and then asked to deposit the bond amount. The doctor has deposited Rs 30 lakh and requested some time for depositing the remaining amount,” said Aulakh. 45-year-old man stabbed to death by friend, three others Was attacked when he went to take back his mobile stolen by key suspect Our Correspondent Sahnewal, January 4 A 45-year-old resident of Giaspura was reportedly murdered with a dagger by a residents of Lohara village and three other unidentified persons at Suman Nagar yesterday. A case under Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC has been registered against the suspects at the Sahnewal police station. The suspects are yet to be arrested. The deceased, Gurcharan (45), a native of Jamnaha, Gonda in Uttar Pradesh, and at present staying in the Sua road area, Giaspura, was a VICTIM NATIVE OF GONDA IN UP The deceased, Gurcharan, a native of Jamnaha, Gonda in Uttar Pradesh, was at present staying on the Sua road in Giaspura. friend of Billa of Gill Colony, Lohara. On December 12, the deceased and the suspect, with one of his accomplices, had liquor together at the former’s house. Later, Billa stole the mobile phone of Gurcharan and fled the scene. Later, the victim came to know about the theft of his mobile. on January 3, he went to Billa to get it back. Instead of returning the mobile, he and other three suspects attacked the victim with a dagger in an inebriated state and left him on the spot. Gurcharan was taken to the Civil Hospital, Ludhiana, where he was declared brought dead by doctors. The body of the victim has been handed over to his kin after a post-mortem examination. According to the SHO, Sahnewal police station, Inderjeet Singh Boparai, four persons seem to be involved in the murder as per the CCTV footage of a Birthday bash in Central Jail Ludhiana, January 4 A purported video showing inmates celebrating a birthday inside the Ludhiana Central Jail has gone viral on social media, raising many eyebrows. It has prompted concerns about unrestricted access to phones and Internet in prison facilities. A total of 11 inmates have been booked in the case so far. In the video, the inmates celebrated the birthday of a fellow inmate, Arun Kumar, alias, Anil Kumar, alias Mani, from Himachal Pradesh, on the jail premises on December 21. Questions are being raised how the mobile and Internet facilities are available in the jail. According to a police official, an FIR was filed under Section Viral video sparks concerns over use of mobile, Internet in jail, 11 inmates booked 52-A (1) of the Prisons Act against Arun on December 30. But he had reportedly destroyed his mobile by smashing it against the wall. However, the broken mobile was later recovered by jail staff. SHO at Division Number 7 police station Sukhdev Singh Brar said following the circulation of the video, 10 more inmates were booked in the case on Thursday. The other inmates were identified as Gurjant Singh, Karanjot Singh, Sarabjit Singh, Satkar Singh, Saurav Kattu, Harmandeep Singh, Harwinder Singh, Deedar Singh, Shivam and Sajanpreet Singh. Brar said a thorough investigation was underway to determine how the mobile phone reached the suspect in the jail. The police are also assessing the involvement of other inmates and further action would be taken after the probe. Despite previous reports of mobile usage in the jail, sources have disclosed that the facility still lacks adequate number of jammers. A number of phones were being recovered during routine checks inside the jail. But necessary measures are yet to be taken to install mobile jammers on its premises. — TNS spot near the crime scene. The deceased was known to the suspects and he used to have liquor with them occasionally. On January 3, they fought with each other in an inebriated condition, following which Billa and his companions attacked the deceased with the dagger. Gurcharan succumbed to his injuries. A case under Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC had been registered against the suspects at the Sahnewal police station on the statement of Asha Kuhar, wife of the deceased. The police are in search of the suspects and soon they would be in the police net, the SHO said. 30 cartons of liquor seized, man held Ludhiana, January 4 The joint team of the police anti-narcotics cell and the Excise Department caught a man along with his e-rickshaw and allegedly seized illicit liquor from his possession. The suspect has been identified as Sunny Kumar (37) of Prem Nagar near Field Ganj. ADCP Rupinder Kaur Sran said police officials seized 30 cartons of liquor from the man. Further probe was on. He was nabbed during a checking at Karimpura Bazaar following a tip-off. A case under the Excise Act was registered on Thursday. — TNS Motorists commute amid dense fog that engulfed the city throughout Thursday. HIMANSHU MAHAJAN Max temperature drops to 9.6°C, lowest in 53 years Manav Mander Tribune News Service Ludhiana, January 4 City residents today woke up to a bone-chilling morning. The maximum temperature plummeted to 9.6°C, which was lowest as per the data recorded by the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) observatory since 1970. Pavneet Kaur Kingra, head of the Department of Climate Change and Agricultural Meteorology, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), said today was the lowest maximum temperature at 9.6°C since 1970 when the meteorological observatory was established at the PAU. The minimum temperature recorded today was 5.6°C. Dr Kingra said the weather was expected to remain dry with the possibility of cold wave conditions/dense fog in morning hours over Ludhiana and its adjoining areas during the next 24 hours. With an increase in the cold wave in the region, spurt in var- FROSTBITE An injury caused by freezing of skin and underlying tissues. SYMPTOMS Numbness | Prickling feeling | Hard or waxy looking skin | Clumsiness due to joint and muscle stiffness PREVENTION ■ Avoid going out during extreme cold conditions. ■ Dress up in several layers of warm clothes. ■ Wear hat or headband to fully cover ears. ■ Wear mittens, socks. ■ Eat well-balanced diet. ious illnesses such as flu and running/stuffy nose, which usually get aggravated due to prolonged exposure to cold, can be witnessed among people. “Do not ignore shivering. It is the first sign that the body is losing heat. Get indoors. Frostbite can occur due to prolonged exposure to cold. The skin turns pale, hard and numb and eventually black blisters appear on exposed body parts such as fingers, toes, nose or earlobes. Severe frostbite needs immediate Unending wait for RCs, DLs, pendency touches new high Fire breaks out at Ludhiana records max pendency of vehicle registrations, driving licence issuance in state; public hassled Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Ludhiana, January 4 With unending wait for the issuance of vehicle registration certificates (RCs) and driving licences (DLs), the pendency has touched an alltime new high in Ludhiana. The gravity of the situation could be gauged from the fact that Ludhiana has recorded the maximum pendency of issuance of RCs and DLs in the state. It has led to harassment of the people, which have been left to make repeated rounds of the Regional Transport Officer’s (RTO) office here to get their works done. Moreover, the challaning of traffic rules’ violators has also come to a standstill at the Transport Department’s regional office here. In the absence of any enforcement in the field, violations of the traffic rules, including plying of illegal buses without valid permits, oversized and overloaded heavy vehicles, especially trucks and trailers, have become a common sight on busy roads passing through the state’s biggest and largest district, in terms of area and population, posing a major risk to commuters. The inordinate delay in the delivery of services with files pertaining to the issuance of new documents and renewal or revision of old documents piling up here has made long queues of applicants a common sight at the RTO office here. Applicants queue up to get their jobs done at the RTO office in Ludhiana on Thursday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: HIMANSHU MAHAJAN DISTRICT ON TOP With a maximum of 11,426 pending files of driving licences and 13,024 pending cases of vehicle registration certificates, Ludhiana is on the top of pendency in the state. However, the RC pendency in Ludhiana was a bit less than 14,391 pending files in Jalandhar. The official pendency data compiled by the State Transport Department, a copy of which is with The Tribune, revealed that as many as 13,024 cases of RCs and 11,426 files of DLs were lying pending at the RTO office in Ludhiana as on December 31, 2023. While the DL pendency was highest in Ludhiana, the pendency of RCs here was second highest in the state with Jalandhar topping the chart with 14,391 pending issuance of RCs. Ludhiana’s pendency of RCs included 7,688 cases at verification stage and 5,336 files at approval stage while the DL pendency included 8,104 at verification stage and 3,322 at approval stage. The RTO, Randeep Singh, said Ludhiana had the maxi- mum workload. “I had the lowest pendency at the approval stage. Applications were pending at the clerk level due to the clerical strike and I was on leave for a week,” he reasoned while claiming that most of the pendency was accumulated due to the strike. Asserting that the pendency was being cleared, the RTO claimed that the public was not facing any inconvenience. However, he failed to cite reasons behind not challaning violators. The pendency of services had started piling up in Ludhiana ever since Randeep Singh had joined as RTO here on October 26 last after the transfer of his predecessor Dr Poonam Preet Kaur, who had cleared the entire pendency before relinquish- ing the charge here. It was in January last when the 2016-batch Punjab Civil Services (PCS) officer Dr Poonam had joined here as the RTA Secretary after her predecessor, Narinder Singh Dhaliwal, was arrested by the Vigilance Bureau (VB) for allegedly running an organised crime racket to collect money as bribes from transporters. She had cracked the whip on the violators of the traffic rules and had acted tough against transporters running illegal vehicles, especially buses and trucks/trailers, without valid permits and tax evasion. She had also cleared the pendency backlog of DLs, vehicle RCs and other allied services in the district. The doctor-turned-bureaucrat was among 50 PCS officers, who were reshuffled in the state in October last year. She has been posted as the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) at Payal here. Though the public had attributed her exit to a tough stance against the violators, which had irked mainly the “all-powerful” transporter lobby, the government had denied any such reason and has termed the transfer as “routine on administrative grounds”. “It was a routine process and has nothing to do with any so-called pull or pressure,” a senior officer had told The Tribune. However, the transporters and those, who had been finding it hard to escape the action for violations and get- c m y b ting their illegal jobs done, were upbeat over the transfer. Back to square one Setting an example, Dr Poonam had cleared the entire pendency of DLs, RCs and all other allied services at her office till October 24, the day she received her transfer order and relinquished her charge. During her less than ninemonth stint, she had slapped a fine of whopping over Rs 1.64 crore on the violators and had challaned almost 681 vehicles, mostly heavy, including illegal buses/trucks/trailers and those attached with schools, for various violations and tax evasion. Besides, 364 vehicles, mainly the illegally plying buses and trucks without valid permits and routes, had also been impounded. Besides issuing almost 67,000 DLs of different forms, the RTA Secretary had also issued RCs to around 60,000 new vehicles registered in the district, during the past less than nine months. With this, the RTA had collected whopping revenue amounting to over Rs 271 crore since January. It was done despite acute staff shortage and other shortcomings in the system. Most of the backlog cleared during this year was lying pending since previous years during the tenure of her predecessors. Dr Poonam, who has herself led the entire office staff to work overtime for clearing continued on page 2 cloth waste godown Tribune News Service Ludhiana, January 4 A fire erupted in a godown containing cloth waste located in Sandhu Colony on Tibba Road, here, on Thursday morning. An LPG cylinder also exploded on the premises. Nearby residents were prompted to evacuate their homes as a massive blaze ensued. The actual reason for the fire is not clear but it resulted in damages to valuables and property. According to information, the fire started in the morning, accompanied by an explosion of an LPG cylinder in the warehouse, causing panic among residents staying in the neighbourhood. Attempts by the people to extinguish the flames with water proved futile. The warehouse emitted thick smoke and intense flames. The situation brought under control after firefighters started the operation. A fire brigade official said on receiving the information, three fire tenders were dispatched to the spot, where it was revealed that the explosion had occurred in one of the LPG cylinders. The fire was successfully brought under control within a few hours. Unfortunately, a calf lost its life in the incident but no human casualties were reported, the official claimed. The blast ripped the LPG cylinder in two. Jyoti, a resident of a nearby area, said she informed the fire brigade on witnessing flames emerging from the godown. However, no information was available about the cause of the fire. A damaged LPG cylinder that exploded after it caught fire at the godown in Ludhiana. TRIBUNE PHOTO medical attention and treatment,” said a medicine expert. Impact on agriculture, water supply, transport and power sector at some places can also be experienced. “Today was an intensely cold day. Dew was dropping like rainfall which further aggravated the cold conditions. School vacations should be extended in view of the cold wave and sending children to school in such weather conditions is difficult,” said Neha, a city resident. Two nabbed with ~5.10L fake currency Ludhiana, January 4 Two persons allegedly involved in the printing of counterfeit currency were apprehended by the police. The seized fake currency amounted to Rs 5.10 lakh and consisted of Rs 200 and Rs 100 notes. On Thursday, Joint Commissioner of Police Saumya Mishra shared information about the arrest of the two suspects. They have been identified as Sohan Singh (39), alias Soni, from the Agwar Ladai area in Jagraon, and Mandeep Singh (40), alias Mannu, from Agwar Gujjran in Jagraon. The police said both of them were apprehended in BRS Nagar with the counterfeit currency and their car was seized. Another individual, Bakhtaur Singh from Lohara village in Moga district, is still at large in connection with the case, the police said. Police officials said Sohan worked as a driver and property dealer while Mandeep pursued a profession as a photographer and also traded in homeopathy medicines. The police acted on a tip-off suggesting the involvement of the suspect in the production of the counterfeit currency. Allegedly, they had a counterfeiting machine installed at Bakhtaur’s residence. A case has been filed against them under Sections 420, 489-A, B, C, and 120-B of the IPC. — TNS