25102024-LT-01.qxd 10/25/2024 12:27 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune CIVIC BODY LAUNCHES 15-DAY ‘SWACHHTA DI LEHAR’ FOR ROHIT FITNESS ISN’T A TASK BUT A SOURCE OF JOY AS WELL NEHA THANKS ROHANPREET FOR MAKING HER FEEL LIKE A BABY Municipal Corporation launched a massive cleanliness drive, ‘Swachhta Di Lehar’, across city. P2 Rohit Choudhary, known for his role in Gadar 2, is set to appear in upcoming film Vanvaas, directed by Anil Sharma. P4 Neha Kakkar and Rohanpreet Singh celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary on October 24. P4 » » FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY MAX 32°C | MIN 20°C YESTERDAY MAX 33°C | MIN 20°C SUNSET FRIDAY 5.41 PM SUNRISE SATURDAY 6:32 AM » FRIDAY | 25 OCTOBER 2024 | LUDHIANA No headway in proposal to convert Two arrested with huge quantity of banned drugs City Centre project into hospital Tribune News Service Manav Mander Tribune News Service Ludhiana, October 24 There seems to be no headway in the proposal to convert the multi-crore abandoned Ludhiana City Centre project into a hospital. The Ludhiana Improvement Trust’s project is lying abandoned since 2006 in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Pakhowal Road, and MLA Gurpreet Gogi had proposed to convert the defunct project into a hospital, which otherwise is becoming a safe haven for anti-social and unscrupulous elements. The Punjab Vidhan Sabha committee on local bodies, of which Gurpreet Gogi is the Chairman, also visited the City Centre project site a few months ago but nothing, however, could be decided. “I had proposed that the case with the private firm involved in the project should be resolved amicably. Both parties should be called and the matter should be settled but it needs intervention at the higher level to make it The project is lying abandoned since 2006 in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar. PHOTO: INDERJEET VERMA INITIATED IN 2005 The City Centre project was initiated in 2005 but was never completed after a scam surfaced in it in 2006. While in 2017, a local court had discharged Capt Amarinder Singh and 30 others, following which an arbitration favoured developers and awarded them Rs 1,200 crore as compensation. The LIT then filed a petition against the decision. The issue is now pending in the court. possible. The major chunk of the land is lying wasted while a medical college and hospital could be developed at the Two groups of taxi drivers clash over ferrying passengers Ludhiana, October 24 Two groups of taxi drivers, who had come for getting their medical examination done at the Civil Hospital, confronted each other late on Wednesday night. The situation became out of control, following which the police came to the scene. As per information, complainant Sukhwinder Singh said two youths, Honey and Money, who used to drive taxis near Sherpur Chowk, forcibly asked passengers to sit in their taxis while other cab drivers faced losses due to their act. Both groups indulged in a brawl on Wednesday night and pelted stones at each other. A youth, Namit Bhalla, got injured. He was referred to the DMCH by doctors at the Civil Hospital. Meanwhile, Honey levelled allegations against his opponents, saying that they forced passengers to sit in their cabs only and started the fight later. Rajesh Thakur, SHO, Police Division Number 6, said two groups of taxi drivers had a fight over the issue of ferrying passengers. “We have called both groups. As of now, no case is registered, he said. — TNS site,” said the MLA. When LIT Chairman Tarsem Singh Bhinder was contacted in this regard, he said nothing could be done till the case was pending in the court. “To solve the case amicably, intervention by the higher authorities is needed. Nothing could be more appropriate if the hospital is built at the site and the people will get another government hospital in the heart of the city,” he said. A senior LIT official said the possession of the site was with the construction company and not with the Trust. The case is sub judice in the court and any proposal is possible only when the case is solved. Parminder Kaur, a resident of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, said the stagnant project had become an eyesore and source of problems for the people staying nearby. “Wild vegetation has grown all over and the place has become a safe haven for addicts and anti-social elements. I heard it was being converted into a hospital but nothing has been done in this regard,” she said. The City Centre project was initiated in 2005 but was never completed after a scam surfaced in it in 2006. While in 2017, a local court had discharged Capt Amarinder Singh and 30 others, following which an arbitration favoured developers and awarded them Rs 1,200 crore as compensation. The LIT then filed a petition against the decision. The issue is now pending in the court. Ludhiana, October 24 While many youths hooked to drugs were losing lives in the state, peddlers continue to supply banned drugs and injections to youngsters. Cracking a whip against the smugglers, the police today arrested two suspects and a huge number of banned drugs and injections were recovered from them, which they were supposed to sell to the youths directly or through agents. Kuldeep Singh, a resident of Deloana village in Mansa and at present residing in Jassian, here, and Deepak Sharma, a resident of Ashok Nagar, Ludhiana, were nabbed by the PAU police when the duo were going on a scooter (bearing registration no PB10 JJ 3767) with a large number of banned drugs and injections. The drugs that were seized from the suspects include 7,200 capsules of Aletaminophen Tramadol HCL and Dicyclomine HCL, 2,000 Tradamol prolonged release capsules, 900 Pentazonic Lactate and Penta 900 injections, The suspects in police custody in Ludhiana on Thursday. 6,600 tablets of Alprazolam and Alpcore, 750 injections of Tramadol hydrochloride injection and Brutram. The PAU police have registered a case under Sections 22, 61and 85 of the NDPS against the duo. While there has been no case registered against Deepak Sharma in the past, a case was registered against Kuldeep at Rajpura, Patiala, for smuggling drugs. Dr GS Grewal, a physician, said the seized drugs were Discrepancies: Govt primary school in-charge suspended All smiles Tribune News Service Students after presenting a mime during the Panjab University Zonal Youth & Heritage Festival, Zone-2, at the Government College for Girls in Ludhiana on Thursday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: HIMANSHU MAHAJAN P2 Ludhiana, October 24 The Education Department has suspended the in-charge of Government Primary School, Giaspura, Nisha Rani, with immediate effect. Confirming the matter, the DEO, Elementary, Ravinder Kaur, said several discrepancies were found in the school and the in-charge had even refused to cooperate with the inquiry officer Gurdeep Singh. The DEO said there were Paddy pangs irk farmers, mandis flooded, purchase, payments smooth in dist Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Ludhiana, October 24 Farmers are in for a nightmare as paddy pangs have refused to ease out in the district. With paddy glut on the rise, grain markets (mandis) in the state’s biggest and largest district, in terms of area and population, continue to remain flooded with the food grains as only 31 per cent of the total 3.27-lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of procured paddy has been lifted from the mandis so far. 31% of 3.27-LMT lifted, harvesting yet to pick up pace, 25% of 2.57-lakh hectares reaped so far With paddy glut on the rise, district grain markets remain flooded with the produce. HIMANSHU MAHAJAN However, the procurement of arriving stocks and payments to farmers remain smooth across 146 mandis, including 38 temporary yards, under 13 market committees of Ludhiana. Also, the private purchase of paddy has finally begun with the commission agents (arhtiyas) starting the procurement of foodgrains following the government’s assurance to increase their commission. Claiming that the situa- tion has started improving and will further improve in days to come, District Food and Supplies Controller (DFSC) Geeta Bishambu told The Tribune here on Thursday that lifting had picked up pace with almost habit-forming medicines, which could not be sold without prescription and chemists give the same only to buyers after taking their identity proof. Tramadol was basically a derivative of opium which was given to patients having extreme pain. These come under the category of banned drugs, which could not be taken without doctor’s consultation. “These are highly dangerous habit-forming drugs,” Dr Grewal added. 45 per cent of the paddy procured during the past 72 hours already been cleared from the mandis. She said the administration in close coordination with the Food and Civil Supplies Department and c m y b the four state-owned procurement agencies was ensuring swift procurement and before time payments to the farmers for their procured stocks. “We have been able to purchase over 85 per cent of the total paddy that had arrived in our mandis so far and have paid up to 122 per cent of the payments due to the peasants,” Geeta shared. She said 3,26,814.6 MT of the total arrived 3.82,827.8 MT paddy had been procured in the district while Rs 763.6 crore had already been paid to the farmers, which was 122 per cent of Rs 628 crore payment due within 48 hours of purchase. On the lifting front, 1,02,249 MT of the procured 3,26,814.6 MT paddy had been lifted from the mandis, which comprised 45 per cent of 2.29,461.2 MT stocks due to be lifted within 72 hours of the purchase. On Wednesday, 33,730.5 MT of more paddy arrived in the mandis, of which 26,847.1 MT was purchased and 19,312 MT was lifted during the day. Barring 37.5 MT of paddy purchased by arhtiyas, the rest of the stocks had been procured by Pungrain, Markfed, Punsup, and Punjab State Warehousing Corporation (PSWC). However, the Central agency, Food Corporation of India (FCI), has not yet begun purchase in the district. The DFSC detailed that of the total 497 rice shellers in the district, 364 had applied for storage, 323 had been allotted stocks and 239 had already signed the agreements for storage and milling of procured paddy. “Since their godowns are still full with the milled rice of the previous season due to nonclearance by the FCI, we hope that the lifting will soon pick up pace after godowns of rice millers are freed of the previous stocks,” she added. Besides the parmal variety of paddy, 33,091 MT of basmati rice had also arrived and fully procured in the district till Wednesday. The growers had fetched as high as Rs 3,125 per quintal and as low as Rs 2,490 per quintal for the basmati so far. On the harvesting front, 62,493 hectares, which accounted for 24.4 per cent of the total 2,56,500 hectares of area under paddy in the district, had been harvested so far. According to the data compiled by the Agriculture Department, the Ludhiana block had harvested 2,640 of 13,200 hectares of paddy, Mangat 6,798 of 30,900 hectares, Pakhowal 4,237 of 22,300 hectares, Sudhar 4,046 of 28,900 hectares, Jagraon 2,817 of 31,300 hectares, Sidhwan Bet 5,661 of 33,300 hectares, Khanna 6,468 of 19,600 hectares, Doraha 3,024 of 18,900 hectares, Dehlon 3,618 of 20,100 hectares, Samrala 7,755 of 14,100 hectares, and Machhiwara had reaped 10,755 of total 23,900 hectares area under paddy till date. bogus attendance of students, dummy admissions and fund embezzlement in the school. The teachers were threatened to remain tight-lipped. “We had visited the school twice but there was no cooperation from Nisha Rani and the entire matter was brought to the notice of the higher authorities. On Thursday, she was suspended,” the DEO said. The issue of bogus attendance at the school was also highlighted in these columns in the past. Man nabbed with pistol, cartridges Ludhiana, October 24 The Daba police have arrested Vishal Singh Rana of Sarpanch Colony, here, and seized an illegal .32 bore pistol, four cartridges and a car. SI Amarjit Singh was patrolling near Star School in the Daba area on Wednesday. After getting a tip-off, he stopped a person driving a Maruti Swift car. On the registration number plate of the car, applied for (A/F) was written. The suspect was nabbed from near the Ishar pulley, Lohara, and the pistol was seized from him. A case has been registered against him. TNS 2 jail inmates booked for keeping banned capsules Police Division Number 7 has registered a case under various sections of the NDPS Act and the Prisons Act, 1894, against jail inmates Gurvinder Singh and Hardeep Singh for possessing banned capsules. As many as 100 capsules of Pregabalin and Capdriv were seized from them. Further probe by the police is on in the matter. — TNS