06062024-ATR-01.qxd 6/6/2024 1:03 AM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune POLICE BEEF UP SECURITY FOR 40TH BLUE STAR ANNIVERSARY Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar supervises security arrangements in and around the Golden Temple. P2 » FOR MOST PEOPLE, GAALIS ARE AKIN TO A HELPING VERB: SURYA SHARMA Undekhiactor Surya, like his reel avatar Rinku Paaji, is a bit smug, a lot honest & not in the least bit coy about his success.P4 FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 40°C | MIN 28°C YESTERDAY MAX 41°C | MIN 30°C AMIT MARKS WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY WITH YOUTUBE SERIES Amit Sadh launched his YouTube channel, where he would be sharing experiences of his month-long riding expedition. P4 » SUNSET THURSDAY 7.33 PM SUNRISE FRIDAY 5:24 AM » THURSDAY | 6 JUNE 2024 | AMRITSAR Amritpal got more votes than rivals in their own Assembly segments Our Correspondent NEET results out, Rijul Sood tops in city with 705 marks Teachers offer Rijul Sood sweets; and (right) teachers congratulate Pushkar Prashar and Ajitesh Singh for scoring second best in the city in NEET. Tribune news Service Amritsar, June 5 The National Testing Agency (NTA) announced the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test, Undergraduate (NEET UG), results on its official website on Tuesday. The cut-off for the general category candidates has risen from 720-137 last year to 720-164 this year. Rijul Sood from Sidana International School cleared the NEET with top score in Amritsar by getting 705 out of 720 marks. Following him, Pushkar Prashar and Ajitesh Singh from Wisdom Institute scored second best in city with 700/720, followed by Hiresh Arora who managed to get 694 out of 720 marks. Rijul Sood’s parents are Ayurveda doctors. He plans to get admission in the AIIMS, Rishikesh, with his all-India Rank of 901. “The results and competition in terms of the all-India rank is quite tough this time. Anyway, I plan to get admission in AIIMS, Rishikesh, as AIIMS, Delhi, is out of question this year,” says Rijul. Ajitesh Singh, whose comes from family of doctors, cracked the exam by securing 700 out of 720 marks. He is a student of Spring Dale School. Pushkar, whose father is a banker and mother a private sector employee, said despite hard work and good score, he was a bit taken aback by his AIR. “I was hoping to get into AIIMS, Delhi, but then, looking at this years’ results I feel that the competition is rather tougher than expected. So, I am now looking forward to get admission in AIIMS, Bathinda or Bilaspur.” He hopes to pursue studies in cardio surgery, but also shares that he is open to other fields like medicine. “MBBS is a long journey and I might just get into something else entirely,” he says. His sister is already pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Dental Science at the Government Dental College, Amritsar. SGPC to celebrate religious events on grand scale Tribune News Service Tarn Taran, June 5 ‘ Waris Punjab De’ chief Amritpal Singh has not only won the Lok Sabha election from Khadoor Sahib constituency with a big margin of 1,97,120 votes defeating his nearest rival Kulbir Singh Zira of the Congress, but has also left behind candidates in their own Vidhan Sabha segments which they have been representing in terms of votes polled. The margin of 1,97,120 votes is the biggest difference in the state of Punjab. Cabinet Minister Laljit Singh Bhullar, the AAP candidate, who won from Patti in the 2022 Vidhan Sabha election and made a minister, was left behind by a margin of 28,954 votes. Laljit Singh Bhullar got 27,804 votes while Amritpal Singh received 56,758 votes in this election. Kulbir Singh Zira of the Congress, nearest rival of Amritpal Singh, could get 36,302 votes from his Zira Vidhan Sabha constituency while 43,901 votes were polled in favour of Amritpal Singh, 7,599 more than Kul- Amritsar, June 5 The Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) has decided to celebrate the 450th birth anniversary of Guru Ramdas Ji and the 450th Jyoti Jyot Diwas of Guru Amardas Ji on a grand scale. The decision was taken during a meeting of the centenary committee of the SGPC here on Wednesday. The SGPC general secretary, Rajinder Singh Mehta, is heading the centenary committee. The committee prepared an outline for holding mega religious celebrations at Goindwal Sahib. Mehta said the celebrations for the centenaries would commence from the historic Gurdwara Shri Sanh Sahib at Baserke Gillan village in Amritsar district in September. A gurmat samagam would be held at Gurdwara Manji Sahib Diwan Hall in the Golden Temple complex on September 14, said Mehta. Amritpal’s mother Balwinder Kaur and Paramjit Kaur Khalra receive the certificate of victory from polling officials. FILE PHOTO bir Singh Zira. In the Vidhan Sabha constituency of Khemkaran, which SAD candidate Virsa Singh Valtoha has represented twice, he could get 21,866 votes as compared to 46,600 votes received by Amritpal Singh which was 24,734 more than what the SAD candidate had polled. The same has happened with the BJP candidate Manjit Singh who represented Khadoor Sahib twice and Baba Bakala once. Amritpal Singh got more votes than Manjit Singh in both the constituencies. In the Khadoor Sahib constituency, Amritpal Singh got 58,426 votes as compared to a mere 8,217 votes polled by Manjit Singh. This meant 50,209 more votes were polled in Amritpal’s favour. In Baba Bakala constituency, Amritpal Singh secured 40,303 more votes than Manjit Singh who got 12,296. Amritpal polled a total of 52,599 votes. The supporters of Amritpal Singh were demanding his release from jail. The trend reminded of the 2022 Punjab Vidhan Sabha elections when most voters had not even seen the face of the AAP candidate, but he won the poll with a thumping majority. Candidates of major political parties pay obeisance at shrines Polls showed AAP support base erosion with party managing lead in 2 segments Tribune News Service Amritsar, June 5 After conclusion of polling, all candidates of major political parties paid obeisance at religious shrines today. Congress’ Gurjeet Singh Aujla paid obeisance at Durgiana Mandir and Bhagwan Valmiki Tirath Sthal today morning. He paid obeisance at the Golden Temple on Tuesday night after the declaration of the election results. Aujla created a history by winning the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat for the third time. Ever since the news of his victory came, people stood in long queues to meet him at his office. After paying obeisance at the Golden Temple today, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) nominee for the Amritsar Voters not convinced party has fulfilled all its promises Tribune News Service Gurjeet Singh Aujla at Durgiana Mandir; and (right) Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal pays obeisance at the Golden Temple in Amritsar. VISHAL KUMAR Lok Sabha seat, said though the party did not win the election, it made a good progress as far as the vote share was concerned. He said the AAP improved its vote share in the Amritsar constituency from 1.25 per cent in 2019 to 23 per cent during this General Elections. He congratulated Congress candidate Gurjeet Singh Aujla for his victory. Dhaliwal said he would work to resolve issues of the peo- ple, including that of water supply, cleaning of sewers, garbage lifting and other civic issues. He said the elections for the civic bodies and panchayats would be held by the state government. SAD’s Anil Joshi visited Durgiana Mandir today. He thanked residents of the district for voting in his party’s favour. Joshi said he would continue to work for the people and his party. Amritsar, June 5 Two years after the Aam Aadmi Party gave a stellar performance in the 2022 Assembly elections when it won nine of the 11 Assembly segments in the district, its support base has considerably dwindled with the party managing a lead from only two Assembly segments during the recently held Lok Sabha elections. Though AAP candidate Kuldeep Dhaliwal ended as runners-up in the constituency with a vote share of 23.73 per cent, he managed a lead only from two constituencies, Ajnala and Amritsar South. In the present Vidhan Sabha, Ajnala is represented by Dhaliwal himself and Amritsar South is represented by Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjer. In the last Assembly elections, the AAP had lost only two seats— Rajasansi and Majitha. After the formation of the government, the party had inducted three MLAs as Cabinet Minister. Even as Dr Nijjer was later dropped, the district has two Cabinet Ministers, Dhaliwal and Harbhajan Singh ETO. However, despite all this, the party has managed to save its face. While the AAP candidate asked for votes on the basis of the state government’s two years performance, the voters were perhaps not impressed. Though the par- ty has fulfilled its promise of 300 units of free electricity every month, the government miserably failed as far as its commitment regarding drug menace and corruption are concerned. “The party leaders may claim otherwise, but corruption in government offices has increased. A common man cannot get any work done without paying a bribe, be it getting an NOC from the local bodies or a paper from the Revenue Department,” said Joginder Singh, a local resident. The residents were of the view that the government had also not delivered on its promise of providing good governance. Neeraj Bagga My commitment to develop ‘Guru Ki Nagri’ 2 held with ~1.97 crore drug money remains unwavering, says BJP’s Sandhu Tribune News Service GS Paul Amritsar, June 5 CPI nominee from the Amritsar Lok Sabha seat, Daswinder Kaur, garnered a paltry 141 votes from the Amritsar West segment, once a stronghold of the Communist Party in the holy city. In all, she had to be satisfied with 2,481 votes from the entire Amritsar seat. Experts are of the view that the Left party lost its grip over the voters of the constituency after the winding up of major industrial units from the segment. Prominent Left leaders Satyapal Dang and Vimla Dang were based in the West segment. Daswinder Kaur was contesting on a CPI ticket for the third consecutive time from Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency. In the 2019 General Elections, Daswinder Kaur got 16,335 votes (1.90 per cent) while in the 2017 byelection, she received 17,886 votes (1.76 per cent). As the CPI’s support base Continued on page 2 Tribune News Service CPI nominee gets 141 votes from party’s erstwhile stronghold Tribune News Service Amritsar, June 5 A day after losing the Lok Sabha polls, former diplomat-turned-BJP leader Taranjit Singh Sandhu declared that he would be committed to the overall development and boosting the economy of Amritsar. Giving reference to “Viksit Amritsar” initiative that he had disclosed during his poll campaign, Sandhu said he would pursue the objective of setting up startups in various fields and provide skill development opportunities to residents of the holy city, especially the youth. “Viksit Amritsar” is a unique programme spearheaded by a group of eminent NRIs, who have joined hands to pool USD 100 million (Rs 830 crore) for establishing startups and developmentoriented entrepreneurs in Amritsar. The focus is on setting up projects in the fields of health, tourism, agriculture, industry, commerce, education and information technol- the ❝I amofgrateful towho people Amritsar reposed their faith in me and showed affection by voting in my favour. Though I could not achieve their mandate fully, yet my commitment would be towards development and well-being of Amritsar which is my hometown. Taranjit Singh Sandhu addresses the media. FILE PHOTO ogy in collaboration with the Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), a group of eminent IndianAmericans and Indians living in the United States. Sandhu said he would be fortunate to be a ‘bridge’ between this programme that was conceptualised for the socio-economic development of Amritsar. “I am grateful to the people of Amritsar who reposed their faith in me and showed affection by voting in my favour. Though, I could not achieve their mandate fully, yet my commitment would be towards development and well-being of Amritsar which is my hometown,” Sandhu said while pointing out that the BJP had garnered a good vote share not only in Amritsar, but in Punjab too. “Earlier, the winner had registered a win with a margin of 50 per cent votes for Amritsar Lok Sabha seat. This time, we gave a spirited fight and the winning margin was very thin,” he said. When asked, if he has any plans for contesting the 2027 c m y b ❞ Taranjit Singh Sandhu, BJP LEADER Assembly polls, Sandhu said, “This has to be decided by the high command. My focus is clearly on the holy city. Through “Viksit Amritsar”, we aim to set up startups for the youth and women, make the city drug-free and ensure hygienic environment with efficient law and order, besides boosting the economy,” he said. He said the need of the hour was to open avenues for the farming community. “Their produce, if sold overseas, would fetch the price that is multiple times they get here. For this, our cargo facility has to be utilised,” he said. Amritsar, June 5 In a joint operation with the Border Security Force (BSF), the Amritsar (Rural) police have recovered Rs 1.97 crore alleged drug money from two persons in Kakkar border village located around half-akilometre ahead of the barbed fence near the international border. The cash was kept in three bags in a room when the police teams raided the house on Tuesday night. The police arrested two brothers identified as Balwinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh, both residents of Kakkar village in this connection. Hans Raj, Superintendent of Police (SP), Headquarters, Amritsar (Rural) police, said they got inputs from the BSF that the two suspects were in contact with Pakistan-based smugglers and were smuggling narcotics from across the border through drones. “Following the tip-off, a joint operation was launched and a raid was conducted at got inputs ❝The policethat two from the BSF suspects are in contact with Pakistan-based smugglers and smuggling narcotics from across the border through drones. Following the tip-off, a raid was conducted at the house that led to the recovery of huge cash. Currency counting machine was brought. When counted, the amount of currency seized was found to be over Rs 1.97 crore. ❞ Hans Raj, SP (HEADQUARTERS), RURAL POLICE the house that led to the recovery of huge cash. Currency counting machine was brought. When counted, the amount of currency seized was found to be over Rs 1.97 crore,” the SP said. Besides, the police also confiscated five mobile phones and a laptop from the possession of the suspects, the SP said. He said though the duo did not have any previous criminal record, their two brothers Harbhej Singh, alias Bheja, and Gurbhej Singh were already imprisoned in the Amritsar Central Jail in drug-related cases. Harbhej was arrested by the Special Task Force, Mohali, with drugs in November 2021. He already had three cases of the Prisons Act registered against him for allegedly trying to sneak in prohibited material, including drugs, into the jail premises. Eight months later, his brother Gurbhej was arrested by the Mohali police in July 2022. Satinder Singh, SSP , Amritsar (Rural), said investigations were in progress to identify their backward and forward links to expose the entire nexus, besides identifying their properties accumulated through ill-gotten money.