30102024-ATR-01.qxd 10/29/2024 11:17 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY DIWALI BRINGS FLAVOURFUL CHEER FOR RESIDENTS YOUTH FESTIVAL OFF TO COLOURFUL START AT GNDU SEA OF SHOPPERS IN MARKETS, SNARLS ON EVERY ROAD IN CITY Century-old bazaars come alive during the festival, adorned with décor and jampacked with tourists and locals. P2 The D-Zone (Kapurthala, Nawanshahr district colleges) Youth Festival of GNDU began with a bang. P2 With just two days left for Diwali, people can be seen flocking to the markets in large numbers for festive shopping. P2 » » » MAX 31°C | MIN 19°C YESTERDAY MAX 31°C | MIN 20°C SUNSET WEDNESDAY 5.42 PM SUNRISE THURSDAY 6.46 AM WEDNESDAY | 30 OCTOBER 2024 | AMRITSAR Who will fix lights in Amritsar? Defunct streetlights dim the glow of festivities in city An estimated one lakh lights installed by various agencies call for promptness, consistency in maintenance Farmers lay siege to DAC in Tarn Taran Tarn Taran, October 29 A team of the Verowal police led by Sub-Inspector Gurinder Singh arrested a motorcycle-borne person with 2.700 kg of opium at Jawandpur village here on Monday. The police said the police team had installed a naka on the canal bridge at Jawandpur village when two motorcycleborne persons were seen coming towards the naka. As soon as they saw the police party, they tried to flee the spot, but lost control of the motorcycle leading to slipping of one of the persons from the bike and his arrest while the other person succeeded in fleeing the spot. The police frisked the arrested person and recovered 2.700 kg of opium from his possession. The accused has been identified as Kuljit Singh of Khadoor Sahib and the absconding accused as Gurpreet Singh Gopi of Khadoor Sahib village. A case has been registered. — OC Amritsar, October 29 A total of 1,92,368 metric tonnes (MT) of parmal produce reached the markets till Tuesday evening. Officials of the district mandi stated that 1,91,332 MT of parmal has already been procured and over ~392 crore has been disbursed to the farmers. The mandi officials said nearly 60 per cent of the procured stocks have already been lifted from the markets and efforts are being made to expedite the process. Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney said the procurement process is going on smoothly in all 29 grain markets of the district. She said there is no truth in the rumours doing the rounds that a cut in the MSP will be made. She said if any farmer faces any problem, he can contact the telephone helpline (7973867446) set up for the farmers. Meanwhile, Cabinet Minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal during a visit to grain markets in Our Correspondent summers, our wires melt. Otherwise in winter, we face problems only during foggy season. Theft of wire also leads to dysfunctional lights. Maninder Singh, IN-CHARGE, SAMUDRA ❞ Tribune News Service Amritsar, October 29 Former Indian ambassador to the US and BJP leader Taranjit Sandhu has said that he is ready to work with any religious or social organisation or political party and its leaders to bring about all-round development in the city and ensure the welfare of its people. Addressing a press conference at his residence here on Tuesday, Sandhu who had contested the previous Lok Sabha elections from here said that everyone needs to focus and give time to the development of the city, especially those who have won the election and therefore have huge responsibility on their shoulders. He said that he understands his responsibility well and the results of the work he is silently and honestly doing for the welfare of the city would soon be visible. BJP leader Taranjit Singh Sandhu in Amritsar on Tuesday. PHOTO: SUNIL KUMAR Sandhu said that there is a need to turn the 1.5 lakh daily inflow of visitors to the city into tourists by creating and developing sufficient places and infrastructure to prolong their stay here. He said that tourism could boost the city’s economy in a big way. The former Indian ambassador to the US added that people at the grassroots level are unable to benefit from many schemes sponsored by the Centre, and there is need to ensure that everyone gets the advantage of these schemes. Cleanliness, drug addiction and law and order are big problems in the city, he added. When asked about the diplomatic relations between India and Canada, the former envoy said that necessary steps are being taken in this matter by the Ministry of External Affairs. He said that India-US relations have now turned into a partnership and both countries are moving forward together in bilateral trade and science and technology. He said that Indians hold top positions in big American companies, which can benefit the country and its people. He advised the youth not to go abroad illegally. He said that the education which is being given in foreign countries should be available in our country too. If there are opportunities here, why our children should go elsewhere, he asked. Shop theft case solved, 4 nabbed Amritsar, October 29 The city police arrested four accused in a case relating to theft at a shop within six hours of the incident. The accused have been identified as Nikhil Kumar, Aditya alias Chiku, Ajay and Anuj, residents of Bhagtanwala area. The accused allegedly stole Rs 4,75,000 from a shop in Sham Sunder Market, Rambagh. DCP Vijay Alam Singh stated that the police team recovered Rs 3,04,000 and a motorcycle used in the theft. Investigations revealed that Nikhil Kumar, the initial suspect, led police to his accom- The four accused in custody of the Amritsar police on Tuesday. plices. The accused allegedly made a duplicate key to gain access to the shop. The police Labourers busy at the Bhagtanwala grain market in Amritsar on Tuesday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR Ajnala assured the farmers that every grain of their produce would be purchased. He said the government would not allow exploitation on the pretext of more moisture in the grains. Dhaliwal also appealed to the farmers to bring fully ripened crop to the markets so that it could be procured on the same day. Dhaliwal also accused the BJP-led Central Government of creating hurdles which have affected the procurement process. He said the Punjab Government is making all-out efforts to address the problems being faced by paddy cultivators. — TNS Armed miscreants loot ~5 lakh from PNB branch All India Exhibition of Arts inaugurated Tribune News Service Amritsar, October 29 Two unidentified armed persons looted Rs 5 lakh from Punjab National Bank (PNB) branch at Nag Kalan village at around 4 pm today. According to the informa- tion received, two unknown persons entered the bank. They had covered their faces with cloths. There was no security guard at the bank while only three women staffs were present in the bank. The suspects demanded cash from the staff at gunpoint and after taking the money, fled from the spot. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Charanjit Singh confirmed the incident and said police teams were trying to locate the whereabouts of the suspects. has been received by the Smart City Project authorities, but not a single area of the city can be awarded the status of Smart. It seems that politicians consider the residents of the city as only voters and not the honourable citizens who deserve the quality of life,” added Ankhi. “Residents may witness cleanliness, garbage disposal and proper potable water supply and sewerage only if a central level agency audits the funds received by the Smart City project authorities. Amritsar is also devoid of the MC Mayor and councillors, and they do not know the person who they can apprise of their problems relating to cleanliness, garbage disposal and proper potable water supply and sewerage disposal. The duration of the MC Commissioner is only for up to 4-5 months. When he/she becomes familiar with the problems, he is transferred, leaving the residents in a lurch,” he added. 1.92 LMT of parmal, 4.46 LMT of basmati procured in mandis our lights are One or cent ❝All technical errorfunctional in the city.repairedtwo perDuringlights might be defunct due to and they would be soon. high temperature in Tourism can boost city’s economy in big way, says Taranjit Sandhu Amritsar, October 29 Ahead of the festival of lights, the Amritsar Municipal Corporation has launched a sanitation drive and started lifting garbage from various spots in the city. Residents had been complaining about heaps of garbage and demanding cleaned surroundings in the run-up to the festival season. They criticized the civic body officials for insanitary conditions in the city. Anil Vinayak, a resident of Basant Avenue, said, “Successive heads of the Amritsar MC are also responsible for the present messy state of affairs as they buckle under the pressure from the corporation union bodies and fail to implement even their official orders such as night cleaning duties for fear of strikes and unrest. Officials need to be strict and discharge duties without fear for which they have been adequately vested with legal and financial powers. But frequent transfers had taken a toll on governance and affected officials’ morals for taking uptight decisions.” Kulwant Singh Ankhi, a resident of Partap Nagar, said, “Residents of the holy city are contributing a lot by paying property tax, water and sewerage, house-wise monthly charges to Amritsar MSW Limited, besides Central GST and State GST and other taxes. They pay taxes to avail of facilities like cleanliness, garbage disposal, proper potable water supply and sewerage disposal. But when garbage is not lifted on a daily basis from houses, sewage mixed water is supplied to many houses in the city, big heaps of legacy waste remain present on roadsides, green belts and parks in a deplorable state, aware residents are forced to think where the people’s money is being spent.” “Amritsar is placed in the list of Smart cities since 2016 and hundreds of crores of rupees Man held with 2.7 kg of opium in Tarn Taran Defunct streetlights on the Lawrence Road in Amritsar on Tuesday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR by PWD. Some private contractors have also been hired by the MC for the maintenance of street lights. The lights installed on the bypass road are being operated by National Highways Authority Tribune News Service of India (NHAI), and most of the time, these lights are not operational. Road stretches and localities maintained by the AIT, PWD and NHAI often face the problem of defunct street lights. Tribune News Service Amritsar) and GTB Nagar, Mall Mandi are maintained by the Amritsar Improvement Trust. Similarly, lights on outer city roads such as Airport Road, Fatehgarh Churian Road are maintained Charanjit Singh Teja Municipal Corporation (MC) authorities claimed that 95 per cent lights installed in the city by the civic body or Samudra are operational. The officials claimed that in case of a technical snag, damage or theft of wire, they try to repair the lights within 24 hours. Sandeep Singh, Superintending Engineer of MC, said, “The MC and ASCL have around 85,000 street lights in the city. Samudra is taking care of their maintenance. We get 10 to 15 complaints daily and address all these within 24 hours. We use PVC-coated copper wires for street lights. The theft of wire is quite common. Now, we have started using silver wire to avoid theft cases. We make special arrangements on Diwali festival. Several roundabouts and government buildings were lit on Gurpurb of Guru Ramdas.” The ASCL installed 300 high mast and 900 mini high mast lights at key locations in the city. Maninder Singh, incharge, Samudra, said, “All our lights are functional in the city. One or two per cent lights might be defunct due to technical error and they would be repaired soon. During high temperature in summers, our wires melt. Otherwise in winter, we face problems only during foggy season. Theft of wire also leads to dysfunctional lights.” Charanjit Singh Teja Amritsar, October 29 Diwali is known as the festival of lights but the darkness on the streets threatens to cast a shadow on the festivities as a number of street lights installed on the main roads and in residential localities are lying defunct. On Tuesday evening, the lights in one of the major markets on Lawrence road were not functional. Around one lakh street lights installed in the city are being managed by various departments including the Municipal Corporation, Amritsar Smart City Limited (ASCL), Public Works Department and Amritsar Improvement Trust. The residents often complain of defunct street lights. On some of the roads, the lights often go out at night. Amid all this, the common man can’t figure out as to who will fix the dysfunctional street lights? The Amritsar Smart City Limited hired a private firm Samudra, which installed 66,993 LED lights during the past few years. The firm replaced Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) lights with LED lights and also took up their maintenance. The street lights on the 35-km Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), installed by PWD, are now maintained by the Municipal Corporation. The street lights in Ranjit Avenue, Bhai Gurdas Ji Nagar (New Residents flay MC, govt officials for insanitary conditions in city NO SECURITY AT BANK Two unknown persons entered the bank. They had covered their faces with cloths. There was no security guard at the bank. The suspects demanded cash from the staff at gunpoint and after taking the money, fled the spot. c m y b Amritsar, October 29 Indian Academy of Fine Arts (IAFA) opened the 89th All India Exhibition of Arts with 339 works of 333 artists from all corners of India on display. These works are mostly paintings, graphics, photography, drawing, digital art and sculptures. They have been created by artists of national repute and 22 works from among them were honoured by IAFA. The exhibition was inaugurated by Cabinet Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, who also presented the highest award for artists by IAFA to Rakesh Kumar, an artist from Jammu and Kashmir. He received a prize money of ~1 lakh for his painting while Hothi Baswaraj (from Telangana) got a prize of Rs 51,000. Rahul, an artist from Haryana, received the third prize of Rs 31,000. A cash prize of Rs 21,000, eight prizes of Rs 11,000 and 10 excellence prizes of Rs 5,000 were also given to the participating artists. — TNS efforts resulted in the recovery of stolen money and the arrest of the four accused. — TNS Tarn Taran, October 29 Farmers from across the district under the banner of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha gheraoed the District Administrative Complex (DAC) and locked the main gate of the complex here on Tuesday. As a result, officials had to face great difficulty while entering or exiting the complex. While addressing on the occasion, Daljit Singh Dialpur, Nachhattar Singh, Manjit Singh Baggu and other farmer leaders of different unions said a month has almost elapsed, but the paddy procurement process is yet to function smoothly. There is no space to unload paddy at the rice shellers or in the godowns. Farmer leaders said their paddy was not being procured at MSP and they were forced to live in the mandis for days together waiting for the procurement of their crop. The leaders demanded the cancellation of the criminal cases registered against the farmers for burning paddy straw and checking the black marketing of the DAP. Deputy Commissioner Rahul at a meeting with the farmers assured them of resolving their problems at the earliest.