09042024-ATR-01.qxd 4/9/2024 12:26 AM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune NEVER SAID ANYTHING AGAINST FARMERS’ INTERESTS: TARANJIT The teaser of the upcoming sequel Pushpa 2: The Rulewas unveiled on the occasion of Telugu superstar Allu Arjun’s birthday.P4 » » MAINLY CLEAR ALLU ARJUN SHARES VISUALS FROM PUSHPA 2: THE RULETEASER FARMERS STAGE PROTEST AGAINST BJP’S CANDIDATE FROM FARIDKOT BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Faridkot, Hans Raj Hans, faced protest at Rampura Phul town in Bathinda dist on Monday.P3 TaranjitSingh,theBJPcandidateforLokSabha constituency,saidhehadneversaidanything againstinterestsoftheagrariansociety.P2 FORECAST » MAX 34°C | MIN 15°C YESTERDAY MAX 34°C | MIN 16°C SUNSET TUESDAY 6.55 PM SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 6:07 AM TUESDAY | 9 APRIL 2024 | AMRITSAR Migrant held for spying in Khasa Army cantonment Tribune News Service drugs led to Bank robbery case Concerted drive againstthreemonths seizure of 99 kg heroin in cracked, three held PK Jaiswar Amritsar, April 8 A Bihar resident identified as Mazhar, who works as JCB operator in the Khasa Army Cantonment area, has been arrested by the police on charge of spying. The authorities handed over the suspect to the Gharinda police station after they found pictures of vital installations of the Army in his mobile phone. Worked as JCB operator for construction firm Mazhar is an employee of a company having a construction contract for the Army cantonment area. He was working in the cantonment when the Army authorities found his movements suspicious. During search of contents in his mobile phone, they found pictures of vital structures in the Khasa cantonment and arrested him. Later, he was handed over to the police. On the complaint of Major Anikta Kanwar, the police registered a case under Section 3 of the Official Secrets Act against the suspect. He was produced in a court today which sent him to police custody for further probe. Tribune News Service ~7.70L, .30 bore pistol with five rounds recovered Tribune News Service Amritsar, April 8 With the arrest of three persons, the police today claimed to have cracked the Saturday bank dacoity at the ICICI Bank branch located on the Tarn Taran road here. The police have recovered Rs 7.70 lakh from three suspects identified as Suraj (22) and Inderjit Singh, alias Sajjan (19), both residents of the Bhai Manjh road, Sultanwind, and Prince, alias Shera (32), a resident of Gobind Nagar located on the Sultanwind road. Addressing the media here today, Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, Police Commissioner (CP), said, “The police have confiscated a .30 bore pistol with five rounds and a dummy pistol from the suspects.” A case under Sections 392, 506 and 34 of the IPC and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act was registered against suspects, the CP said. They had looted Rs 12.78 lakh from cashier of the bank on gunpoint, the CP said. Malik Singh, relationship The suspects in custody of the Amritsar police. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR manager of the bank, told the police that on Saturday afternoon, the perpetrators entered the bank and pointed a pistol at the cashier while threatening him to hand over the cash. The suspects decamped with Rs 12.78 lakh from the bank out of which the police recovered Rs 7.70 lakh. The remaining amount would also be recovered soon, the CP said. “We identified robbers within hours of the incident and a manhunt was launched to arrest them. The police teams worked tirelessly on clues throughout night to nab them within 24 hours of the incident,” the CP said. After committing the crime, the suspects went to their house and later escaped from there. The suspects were produced in a court and brought on police remand for further interrogation, the CP said. Suraj had seven cases of snatchings and theft registered against him at Maqboolpura, Division B and the Majitha road police stations here. Similarly, Inderjit Singh also had three cases of theft registered against him while preventive action was initiated against him after imposition of the model code of conduct on March 16. He had come out on bail recently, the CP said. Edu Dept forms panel to probe hefty charging for books by pvt schools Tribune News Service Amritsar, April 8 After receiving complaints of hefty charging from parents for school books and uniforms by various private schools in the city, the district Education Department has constituted a four-member committee to probe the allegations. The department has so far received complaints against at least 10 schools which have charged exorbitant amounts from parents for books. Some of these schools have charged as much as Rs 8,000 for books for primary classes. The schools are not authorised to sell books, uniforms ❝The truth is that theat Education Department the district level has no teeth to take action against private schools which are either owned by politicians or have close ties with them. ❞ Retired Education Department official or other items to children from their premises. However, most schools have provided books to their students from their respective campuses. Overcharging by schools is an issue which parents face every year at the start of new Amritsar, April 8 With the General Elections for the 18th Lok Sabha round the corner, rampant drug peddling in the border district — comprising Amritsar police commissionerate and the Amritsar (Rural) police — has remained one of the major issues during the runup to the polls. In past three months, the Punjab Police have recovered around 99 kg of heroin smuggled from across the International Border fence through drones. If data procured is anything to go by, the city as well as the rural police have arrested 337 drug peddlers and registered 214 FIRs under provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act since January 1. The rural police that covers the International Border had made a major recovery of 65 kg of contraband. The city A drug peddler in custody of the Amritsar (Rural) police. FILE PHOTO police also made considerable seizure of 34 kg of heroin. A new trend was also noticed when the city police recovered 2 kg of ice drug smuggled from Pakistan for the first time. Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, Police Commissioner (CP), said, “The Punjab Police have launched a concerted drive against drug peddlers and smashed a number of narco modules being operated by gangsters turned smugglers from foreign shores, including Canada, the USA and Malaysia.” “Now, we are taking investigations to conclusions by Huge quantity of lahan seized from two villages in mand area 45-year-old man found unconscious dies at hospital Our Correspondent session. In the year 2014, a protest against private schools had reached its peak when parents held demonstrations at various places in the city. However, as parents do not stand united against the highhandedness of private schools, the issue surfaces every year and the Department of Education too constitutes committees to probe these complaints. “The truth is that the Education Department at the district level has no teeth to take action against private schools which are either owned by politicians or have close ties with them,” said a retired Education Department official. Tarn Taran, April 8 An unidentified cleanshaven man around 45 years of age, who was found by the GRP in an unconscious condition, breathed his last on Monday at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, Amritsar. ASI Jaswant Singh of the GRP said the man was found near the railway station in Tarn Taran on Saturday. He was admitted to the Civil Hospital, from where he was referred to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, Amritsar. The body has been kept in the mortuary of the GRP, Amritsar, for 72 hours for identification. Lahan seized from two villages in the mand area of Tarn Taran on Monday. PHOTO: GURBAXPURI Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, April 8 In a major crackdown against illicit liquor, the district police and the Excise Department launched a joint operation at Marar village falling under the Harike police station and Shakri village falling under Sarhali police station in the mand area and seized huge quantity of lahan on Monday. Ashwani Kapur, SSP and , Inderjit Singh Sehzra, Excise and Taxation Officer, said the cordon and search operation (CASO) was launched by the police and paramilitary forces personnel. They said 1,51,850 litres of lahan was seized from both locations. He said two cases were registered against suspects involved in brewing illicit liquor under Section 61, 1 and 14 of the Excise Act. They said suspects were identified as Rajwinder Singh and Ranjit Singh Rana, both residents of Marar village, Kulbir Singh, a resident of Kirian village, and Bitu and his wife Rani, both residents of Shakri village. The identity of two persons involved in the crime was yet to be established. The suspects were yet to be arrested. smashing the entire network after identifying their backward and forward links,” he said. “The idea is to break the supply chain of drugs which is one part of the campaign to eradicate the menace from the border state,” he said. Satinder Singh, SSP Amrit, sar (Rural) police, said, “Being a border district, the challenge is to nail cross-border smugglers. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) to smuggle drugs has increased manifolds in the past couple of years.” He said, “We have set up second line of defence by laying special nakas in border districts. CCTV cameras are also being installed to check movements of traffickers on this side of the border coming to retrieve drug consignments dropped by drones.” Besides heroin, the police have also seized 17 kg of opium and 56 kg of poppy husk. The rural police have also recovered Rs 1.17 crore of drug money. 94-year-old loses ~1.9L to swindler Tarn Taran, April 8 An amount of Rs 1.9 lakh was transferred by a swindler about six months ago from the bank accounts of Pargat Singh, a resident of Rasulpur. The victim is 94 years of age and also the national president of Sabka Sainik Sangharsh Committee, Tarn Taran. He had fought in the 1965 and 1971 wars. The committee has declared Pargat Singh as its candidate from Varanasi against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the coming Lok Sabha elections. The exservicemen are on an agitation path as they alleged that they are facing disparity in their retirement benefits. The police said the swindler, who transferred amount from Pargat’s account, had been identified as Santosh Shah, a resident of Juran Chhapara, MIT, Muzaffarpur (Bihar). The local Sadar police registered a case under Sections 420 and 120-B of the IPC, read along with Section 43 of the IT Act in this regard on Sunday. — OC KMSC activists wave City hospitals ill-equipped to deal with fire hazards Over ~45L fine recovered from train passengers black flags at BJP leaders FIRE SAFETY travelling without tickets SayCentre’spoliciesbenefitcorporatesector PART - V Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service Farmers and workers protest in Tarn Taran on Monday. the corporate sector. The agitating farmers showed black flags to the BJP leaders when they came out of the marriage palace after the end of the election rally. The leaders condemned the Union Government for its tactics in tackling the farmers’ struggle with an iron hand as it did not hesitate to kill farmers, as was done in the case of Subhkaran Singh, a young farmer, at Shambhu border. Heavy police force was deployed on the spot to avoid any untoward incident. — OC Amritsar, April 8 Government hospitals lack basic infrastructure to tackle any fire incident. Fire extinguishers not refilled on time and hose pipes are missing in government health facilities. The situation in private hospitals is not that bad, but still they need improvement. There is no proper check on firefighting arrangements in private hospitals by the authorities concerned. As per law, all hospital buildings are required to follow fire safety measures listed in Chapter 4 of the National Building Code. As per safety norms, hospitals need to have fire hydrants, which are attached to fire engines for refilling on the spot as this saves precious time to bring the blaze under control. All hospitals should have a wide approach road. Most private hospitals and PHOTOS: VISHAL KUMAR Tarn Taran, April 8 The BJP leaders, who had come to Reshiana village on Monday to address a workers’ rally, had to face the wrath of farmers and workers who waved black flags at them. The protesters included both men and women. The BJP had convened a rally at a marriage palace in the village in a clandestine fashion, but when leaders of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC), Punjab, observed activities, they called a large number of supporters to the spot in a short time. The protesters raised slogans against alleged antifarmer policies of the Union Government. Fateh Singh Piddi, Harbhinder Singh Kang and other leaders of the KMSC, while addressing the gathering, alleged that the main aim of the BJP was to oust farmers and hand over the profession to A hose pipe box used as a garbage bin; and (right) an outdated fire extinguisher at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, Amritsar. nursing homes lack proper fire safety measures and use portable fire extinguishers. No mock drill has been conducted by the Fire Department in the city for past several months. Government hospitals, including Guru Nanak Dev Hospital and the Civil Hospital, have defunct fire safety equipment. Hose pipes are missing and broken. The boxes to keep hose pipes are used as waste bins. The fire hydrants or fire plugs to which hoses of fire engines are c m y b attached for refilling are either defunct or missing. Water gets wasted all the time from some leaking fire plugs. Even glass panels of safety equipment boxes and fire alarms are broken and non-functional. However, newly constructed blocks at both the hospitals are relatively better equipped to deal with any fire incident. But fire extinguishers are not refilled on time. As per record, the due date of refilling extinguishers was in the year 2023. “Due to presence of highlycombustible substances, including chemicals and gases, hospitals always need better fire safety equipment to douse flames. Coupled with inability of patients to move on their own, chances of casualties always remain high in fire incident. As number of nursing homes are located in narrow lanes, it becomes difficult for the Fire Department to respond in time in case of an emergency. Not only government, but private hospitals and nursing homes too lack proper fire safety equipment,” said a fire official. Amritsar, April 8 The Northern Railway’s Ferozepur division has earned Rs 3.17 crore revenue, including over Rs 45 lakh at the Amritsar railway station, from ticketless passengers. To stop the trend of unauthorised travel in trains, teams of the division are holding continuous ticket checking drives in trains. A total of 32,573 passengers were found travelling without tickets or irregularly during checking in trains in the month of March. An amount of Rs 3.17 crore was collected as fine from such passengers. The Ferozepur division has collected approximately Rs 38.42 crore fine from ticketless passengers in last fiscal that ended on March 31. In order to prevent passengers from littering at stations and to make them aware of cleanliness, Rs 69,000 fine was recovered from 467 violators under the provisions of ❝The ticket checking in campaign will continue the division. The main objective of the drive is to improve sale of train tickets and recover fine from passengers so that in future they travel only with proper tickets. ❞ Sanjay Sahu, DIVISIONAL RAILWAY MANAGER the Anti-Littering Law. Sanjay Sahu, Divisional Railway Manager, said ticket checking campaign would continue in the division. He said the main objective of the drive was to improve sale of railway tickets and recover fine from passengers so that in future they travel only with proper tickets. He said due to their collective efforts, Railways earned 34 per cent more revenue in March which was higher than target given by the head office. —TNS
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