05032025-LT-01.qxd 3/5/2025 12:47 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune 2-DAY FLOWER SHOW BEGINS AT PUNJAB AGRI VARSITY YAMI REVEALS WHY SHE TURNED DOWN A BIG-BUDGET FILM Two-day state-level flower show was inaugurated by PAU VC Satbir Singh Gosal on Tuesday. P2 In recent conversation, Yami shared that she had always prioritised content-driven cinema. P4 » HINA KHAN STICKS TO HER ROUTINE DURING RAMADAN PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 24°C | MIN 11°C YESTERDAY MAX 24°C | MIN 12°C SUNSET WEDNESDAY 6.24 PM Despite facing several health challenges, actress Hina Khan has decided to fast this holy month. P4 » FORECAST » SUNRISE THURSDAY 6:43 AM WEDNESDAY | 5 MARCH 2025 | LUDHIANA Work begins to build Ludhiana-Bathinda national highway at a cost of ~1,555 crore Package 2 of 75.5-km greenfield corridor was among NHAI shelved projects Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Ludhiana, March 4 After a year of its withdrawal, the work has finally begun to construct the LudhianaBathinda highway at the cost of Rs 1,555 crore, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has said. The Package 2 of the 75.54km six-lane access controlled greenfield highway was among the NHAI projects, besides the Centre’s flagship Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway, which were shelved/terminated for want of requisite land. The project was revived after the physical possession of 72.04-km of the total 75.54km, which accounted for over 95 per cent of the total land required for both packages of the project, was handed over to the NHAI by the respective district administrations recently. The development assumes significance as the NHAI had shelved/ withdrawn various highway projects after contractors had left following nonavailability of land in the state. It was after Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari took note of the matter and threatened to withdraw/cancel the shelved projects from Punjab and allocate them to other states that the state government had swung into action. On the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, the then Chief Secretary Anurag Verma had engaged with Work in progress to construct the Ludhiana-Bathinda highway in Ludhiana on Tuesday. protesting farmers and held weekly meetings with the district civil and police officials concerned to ensure the possession of pending land for the revival of the NHAI projects. Reviewing the progress of the project, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora told The Tribune here on Tuesday that the NHAI had awarded the work to Ceigall Ludhiana Bathinda Greenfield Highway Private Limited to construct the 45.243-km stretch of Package 2 at the cost of Rs 1,555.13-crore. While 30.03-km Package 1 of the project would be built at the cost of Rs 906.51-crore, the Package 2 with 45.246-km length was estimated to cost Rs 1,555.13-crore. NHAI officials told the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP that the entire land for 33.043-km stretch of Pack- age 2 falling under Ludhiana district, 12.2 km in Barnala district and 30.3-km Package 1 falling under Bathinda (13.2 km) and Barnala (17.1 km) has also been made available following which the stalled work on the project has been resumed. It has been over four years since the major infrastructure development project was awarded but in the absence of land, the previous contractors had left the work midway. The first component of the NH-754-AD will comprise 30.3-km while the second part will run into a 45.243-km stretch. A total of 323.52 hectares of land was required to build the 45.243-km stretch of the highway in the jurisdiction of Ludhiana district, for which the total award amount of Rs 544.36 crore ~12L recovered in cyber fraud case Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, March 4 The Cyber Police station here has achieved a major success by recovering Rs 12 lakh in a fraud case. Cyber criminals had duped a 71-year-old retired principal of Rs 47.3 lakh by putting the victim under digital arrest. The recovered amount was transferred to the account of the victim. SHO, Cyber Police station, inspector Satvir Singh, said the accused had duped the victim, a resident of Rajguru Nagar, of the money after telling her that she was involved in money laundering, and putting her under digital arrest for five days. The suspect had forced the Fraudsters had duped retired principal of ~47L by putting her under digital arrest victim to transfer Rs 47.3 lakh in various bank accounts as ‘security’, promising to return the money once ‘things were cleared’ but after transferring the money, the victim had realised that she was cheated and lodged a police complaint. The SHO said after receiving a complaint, the police had launched investigation and registered an FIR but by then the suspects had already withdrawn the money from the bank accounts in Mumbai, MP and other places. “The cyber team had managed to freeze a bank account of the suspects having Rs 12 lakh and after proceedings, the amount was sent to the bank account of the victim. Further probe is on and the suspects are being identified,” the SHO said. He claimed that it was the biggest recovery by the Ludhiana cyber team this year so far. The team is dedicated to help the public in every possible way. It is always available for senior citizens. “We request all citizens to report any such incidents immediately by dialing 1930 or visiting us at our office. We also request the younger generation to provide awareness about cyber frauds to their grandparents,” he said. had been deposited and disbursed to landowners. Much-Delayed project The construction work on the two packages of the project was scheduled to begin in 2022 and was targeted to be completed by August 2025. But the non-availability of land had stalled the start of the construction work. While the Package 1 of the 30.3-km-long Greenfield expressway to build six-lane access controlled highway will start from junction with Amritsar-Bathinda Greenfield road (NH-754A) near Rampura Phul to junction with Moga-Barnala road (NH703) near Tallewal village on the NH-754-AD falling in Bathinda, Moga and Barnala districts, the Package-2 comprising 45.24-km stretch will take off from junction with Moga-Barnala road (NH-703) near Tallewal village to junction with Delhi-Katra expressway (NE-5) near Ballowal village in Ludhiana on the NH-754-AD. The highway will connect Ballowal village on the Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway with Rampura Phul on the AmritsarBathinda expressway. Once constructed, the drive from Ludhiana to Bathinda would become smoother and faster as the project entails six-laning of the 75.543-km-long national highway 754-AD at the cost of Rs 2,461.64 crore. It was also a part of the Ludhiana-Ajmer economic corridor (EC-8), which was originally scheduled to be completed within 24 months under the Bharatmala Pariyojana, Phase 1. The widening and strengthening of the highway had been taken up by the NHAI in two parts under the hybrid annuity model (HAM) mode. The total civil cost of the project has been estimated at Rs 2,461.64 crore, including Rs 658 crore for first part and Rs 981 crore for the second component, while Rs 754.71 crore was earmarked for the land acquisition, which included Rs 248.51 crore for Package 1 and Rs 574.13 crore for Package 2. The new Ludhiana-Bathinda expressway will pass through 36 villages falling in three districts of Ludhiana under Ludhiana and Raikot tehsils, Barnala under Barnala and Tapa tehsils, and Rampura Phul tehsil in Bathinda district. Illegal structures of two drug lords demolished Facing multiple drug cases, suspects had built houses on rly land Tribune News Service Ludhiana, March 4 Continuing its direct action against drug smugglers and their illegal properties under the state-wide ‘Yudh Nashian Virudh’ campaign, the Ludhiana Commissionerate Police, in collaboration with the railway authorities, on Tuesday demolished unauthorised structures of two drug lords built by encroaching upon the railway land at Talwandi Kalan village in the district. The structures were illegally occupied by two drug smugglers, both of whom were facing multiple cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. On the directions of Commissioner of Police (CP) Kuldeep Singh Chahal, the police force carried out the demolition operation by bringing down both structures with the help of bulldozers. The action was initiated on the request of the railway authorities, who had sought police assistance to remove the illegal encroachments. According to official records, the demolished structures were occupied by Rani, a notorious drug smuggler facing five NDPS Act cases, and Shinder Pal, also known as Nikka, facing trial in nine drug cases. The Commissionerate Police, along with the railway officials, ensured that the demolition operation was carried out smoothly, with sufficient police personnel deployed to prevent any disturbance or lawand-order problem. The authorities confirmed that the land belonged to the railways and had been illegal- ly occupied by both suspects. The railways have provided a list of 32 encroachments on its land in Ludhiana. Chahal reiterated that the Commissionerate Police would continue to take direct action against drug lords under the Bhagwant Mannled Punjab government’s resolve to free the state of drugs within three months. He assured the public that no one would be spared and the drug menace would be completely eradicated, pledging the most severe penalties for the peddlers. He added that a zero-tolerance policy would be adopted against all those engaged in drug trafficking. Pertinently, the Ludhiana Commissionerate Police had taken a lead by launching the ‘bulldozer’ action against the drug lords in the state last week. A house of a drug smuggler being razed in Ludhiana on Tuesday. Striking tehsildars join back as govt acts tough Shivani Bhakoo Tribune News Service Ludhiana, March 4 Giving two hoots to the strike call given by tehsildars across the state, taking stern action, Deputy Commissioner Jitendra Jorwal deputed 15 staff members, including superintendents and kanungos, to do the needful at sub-registrar offices on Tuesday. Realising that the state government was in no mood to succumb to the pressure tactics, the tehsildars finally joined back their duties in the evening. At the same time, following instructions by the DC, the new employees started their work at the offices so that vis- A number of people than usual visited sub-registrar offices in Ludhiana due to strike by tehsildars on Tuesday. INDERJEET VERMA itors did not face any difficulty at the sub-registrar offices. One of the visitors who went to get registries done at the west-sub registrar office said new IDs were made of the new staff and the work did not suffer much on Tuesday. He said on Monday, many visitors had to go empty-handed due to the striking staff. “We had already deputed 15 employees to do the needful in all offices after tehsildars had given a call for strike. The IDs of the other staff were also made but in the evening itself, the tehsildars had joined back duties”, said Jorwal. Meanwhile, the staff who were issued the orders to perform duties in the absence of the tehsildars included Rajesh Kumar (East), Harwinder Singh (West), Varun Chabra (Central), Harjinder Kaur (Samrala), Bikram Pal (Jagraon), Sarabjit Singh (Raikot), Kuldeep Kumar Sharma (Payal), Harminder Kaur (Khanna), Rajinder Singh (Mullanpur Dakha), Paramjit Singh (Koom Kalan), Baljit Singh (Dehlon), Ranjit Singh (Sidhwan Bet), Jaswant Singh (Maloud), Jaspreet Singh (Macchiwara) and Varun Kumar (Sahnewal). On a call given by the state body of tehsildars, the officials had called for a statewide strike call on Monday, which would be continued till Friday as action was taken against an official in the state by the Vigilance Department. Since Chief Minister Bhagwant Maan had issued strict warning to the striking officials, the latter rejoined duties in many districts. Mayor meets MC staff, listens to grievances A day before protest, farm leaders detained Ludhiana, March 4 Working for the welfare of employees, Mayor Inderjit Kaur, Senior Deputy Mayor Rakesh Prashar and Deputy Mayor Prince Johar conducted a meeting with members of Municipal Karamchari Dal at Municipal Corporation’s (MC) Zone D office in Sarabha Nagar on Tuesday. The aim of the meeting was to connect with the employees at the ground level and resolve their grievances, if any, as soon as possible. The meeting also emphasised on ensuring cleanliness across the city and the staff were directed to work with efficiency and transparency. Mayor Inderjit Kaur interacts with employees in Ludhiana. MC Joint Commissioner Abhishek Sharma, chairman of the employees union Vijay Danav, and president Yashpal Chaudhary were among members of the union and civic body officials present in the meeting. The union members also submitted a memorandum with the Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor regarding their demands, including regularisation of remaining overage employ- ees, implementation of old pension scheme, payment of arrears and regularisation of outsourced employees. The Mayor said they were already working on issues that had been raised by the union. The decision regarding a few of the demands had to be taken at the state level and they had already taken up the matter with the government. Genuine demands would be fulfilled soon. Meanwhile, Inderjit Kaur and other officials appealed to the employees to ensure cleanliness across the city. They also appealed to the public to support the civic body in keeping the city clean and green. — TNS c m y b Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, March 4 Several farmer leaders were rounded up from the district in the wee hours of Tuesday from their respective places. Among prominent leaders, Balbir Singh Rajewal was detained by the Punjab Police from his residence in Samrala during a raid early this morning. Another prominent leader, Veerpal Singh Dhillon, general secretary BKU (Kadian), was detained from his residence at Model Gram near Kochar Market. As the police knocked the door of his house, he started sharing videos of him being detained by them. Dhillon was taken to the Kochar Market police post and was not allowed to move out of the station. While talking to The Tribune over phone from the police post, Dhillon said he was expecting police action as he, along with his huge supporters, had plans to take part in the protest to be held on March 5 in Chandigarh, a call for which was given by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha. He had also contacted a large number of supporters who were supposed to come on tractor-trailers to reach Chandigarh for the agitation. “Four to five personnel of the Ludhiana police had reached outside his house around 1.45 am and when I asked them the reason of knocking on my door, they said they had come to detain me. Later, they took me to the Kochar Market police post,” Dhillon said. He claimed that he was part of the delegation that met CM Bhagwant Singh Mann at Chandigarh on Monday. Notably, after the detention of Dhillon, his supporters had also reached the police post and kept sitting with him. He said the police had also rounded up Gurjit Singh Gill from Raikot and some other members of the BKU (Kadian) were also placed under house arrest by the police to prevent them from mobilising supporters for the March 5 protest. The police had also went to detain our leader Harmeet Kadian but he managed to escape before the police could reach his house. “The police cannot stop us from holding the protest in Chandigarh, if we are detained by the police, our hundreds of supporters have already made preparations to reach Chandigarh on Wednesday. Our agitation is going to be successful at any cost,” Dhillon said.