11042025-LT-01.qxd 4/11/2025 12:24 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune HEALTH TEAM RAIDS DAIRY SHOP AT LAKKAR BAZAAR AFTER DUBAI CAMP, NADAR AIMS TO SHINE FOR INDIA Nadar Kaur, an international basketball player from city, aims to represent country at highest level one day. P3 The sale of spurious paneer, curd, khoya and ghee goes on unabated in various areas of city. P2 » NUSHRATT: CHHORII CHANGED AUDIENCE PERCEPTION OF ME Actor Nushratt Bharuccha says her career took a significant turn with the 2021 horror film Chhorii. P4 » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 37°C | MIN 22°C YESTERDAY MAX 39°C | MIN 22°C SUNSET FRIDAY 6.46 PM SUNRISE SATURDAY 6:00 AM » FRIDAY | 11 APRIL 2025 | LUDHIANA 26 aspire for BJP Wheat harvesting picks up, 228 Byelections:Ludhiana West ticket from MT arrives in grain markets so far Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Manav Mander Tribune News Service Ludhiana, April 10 Wheat harvesting is picking up in the district and produce has started arriving in mandis. Till Wednesday, 228 metric tonnes of wheat has arrived at various grains markets located across the district. Of the total arrival, 12 metric tonnes has been purchased by the government and 89 MT by private agencies. According to agricultural experts, the entire season was ideal for the crop, with mild winters, no natural calamities and temperatures remaining below 35°C during the maturing stage, farmers are expecting some good returns from the crop. As Baisakhi is around the corner, grain markets are expected to be full around the festival. Bakshish Singh, a farmer from Manuke village said though the government had announced April 1 as the procurement date, now was the optimal time for harvesting. Labourers had also arrived and the harvesting work would be completed Farm workers harvest the wheat crop in a field on the outskirts of Ludhiana. HIMANSHU MAHAJAN 101 MT OF WHEAT PURCHASED Till Wednesday, 228 metric tonnes of wheat has arrived at various grains markets located across the district. Of the total arrival, 12 metric tonnes of wheat has been purchased by the government and 89 MT by private agencies. by Baisakhi, he said. Meanwhile, farmers have demanded that all neces- sary arrangements should be ensured in grain markets across the state. Bhar- ti Kisan Union (Kadian) president Harmeet Singh Kadian said facilities such as drinking water, washrooms, provision of chowkidar and waiting rooms, in case any farmers need to stay at mandi at night, should be provided. “Combines from Punjab go to neighbouring states such as Haryana, Rajasthan and UP for wheat harvesting and these should be exempt from paying toll tax. Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, had also promised to exempt agricultural vehicles from paying toll tax,” he said. “Still, the toll tax is collected from combines and the government should waive the same. It is only during the kharif and rabi season that the combines come out of the farms, otherwise they are stationed in farms only,” Kadian said. Parminder Singh from the Bharti Kisan Union (Lakhowal) also raised concern over cleanliness and arrangements at the grain markets. “It has been learnt that wheat has started arriving at the mandis but at a few markets, procurement has not started yet. After purchasing, the amount should be deposited in farmers’ accounts within 24 hours. At some mandis, there was lack of proper arrangements,” he said. Ludhiana, April 10 As the byelections in the Ludhiana West constituency can be announced anytime, the BJP has intensified the scrutiny of ticket aspirants. As per information, as many as 26 persons have applied for the candidature from the BJP and the leadership has already intensified scanning of candidates to finalise the eligible candidate. Though the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have announced former minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora, respectively, even prior to the enforcement of the poll code of conduct but the BJP usually has the tendency to announce candidate only after the enforcement of the poll code. Rajnish Dhiman, district BJP president, told The Tribune here on Thursday that internal scrutiny of ticket aspirants was already done. The party high command had already taken reports regarding the ticket aspirants from the district BJP unit. When asked about the expected time of announcement of the candidate, he said the BJP was not in a hurry to announce the same as the election date was yet to be announced. When asked about the agenda on which the BJP would contest the byelections, Dhiman said maximum development works in Ludhiana were done in the West constituency and funds for the works were provided by the Centre but other parties are taking credit.” Once the BJP declares its candidate, the party will release a list of development works carried under the Smart City mission funded by the Centre and the public will be made aware about the contribution of the Ashu alleges voter list tampering Ludhiana, April 10 Congress candidate for the upcoming bypoll of the Ludhiana West constituency Bharat Bhushan Ashu has submitted a complaint with the Deputy Commissioner, alleging voter list tampering in the assembly constituency. “The electoral voter list is being manipulated by the AAPled state government in the Trucker nabbed with 2,260-kg poppy husk 2 land in police net with heroin Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Ludhiana, April 10 The CIA Jagraon police on Wednesday arrested a truck driver and seized 2,260 kg of poppy husk from his possession. The suspect was identified as Balraj Singh, a resident of Bondli village here. Investigating officer subinspector Gursewak Singh said on Wednesday, he, along with a police team, was present at Sherpur Chowk, Jagraon, to keep a tab over smuggling activities. During patrolling, the police had received a tip-off that the truck driver was involved in poppy husk smuggling. He used to bring poppy husk from neighbouring states and Police personnel with the seized poppy husk in Jagraon. supply the same to his clients in Ludhiana. As per information, the driver had brought the huge quantity of poppy husk from some big supplier and parked his truck near Sugar Mill Colony, where he was waiting for his clients to deliver the contraband. The SI said the police conducted a raid and nabbed the suspect. During checking of the truck, 2,260 kg of poppy husk was seized. The vehicle was also seized. A case under the NDPS Act was registered and further probe was launched. Ludhiana, April 10 The Ludhiana police claimed to have nabbed two heroin smugglers and recovered 280 gm of heroin from their possession. They were identified as Jaswant Singh Jimmy (32) of the Dhandra road area and Badal (32) of SBS Nagar. Assistant Commissioner of Police (South) Harjinder Singh in a statement issued stated that the SHO, Sadar, Inspector Avtar Singh, had received a tip-off that the suspects, who were involved in heroin smuggling, were on the way to deliver heroin to their clients. Following which, the SHO along with the police team conducted a raid and nabbed the smugglers. During frisking, the The suspects in Ludhiana police custody. drug was seized from them. The ACP said Jaswant had a criminal past as he was facing four cases, including drug smuggling and under the Arms Act, registered against him in the past while Badal was facing five cases, including attempt to murder, gang rape and drug smuggling. After coming out on bail, both suspects started heroin smuggling. After registering a case, further investigation was launched and the entire drug supply line will be busted. Big smugglers would also be identified and arrested soon. Some local peddlers involved in the chain would also be nabbed. Centre approves ~27.3 cr to construct two incomplete flyovers Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Chandigarh, April 10 In a major development, the Centre has approved the plan to construct two incomplete flyovers on the ChandigarhKharar-Ludhiana highway at the cost of Rs 27.3 crore. Chandigarh-Ludhiana highway was built in 2020 but land dispute left 3 flyovers incomplete With this, driving on one of the busiest highways would become smoother and faster without any obstruction. The development assumes significance as three flyovers on the NH-05, connecting Chandigarh with Ludhiana, had been lying incomplete even five years after the completion of the rest 76-km project at the cost of Rs 2,100 crore in March 2020. While one of these three missing flyovers, which had been One of the incomplete flyovers on the Chandigarh-Ludhiana highway at Khant Manpur village in Fatehgarh. claiming precious lives in road accidents, has already been completed recently, the two other flyovers were still lying incomplete. Approving the proposal sent by its Regional Officer (Punjab and Haryana), the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has allowed the change of scope proposal amounting to Rs 27.3 crore to build the remaining two missing links on the highway. Congress MP Dr Amar Singh, under whose Fatehgarh Sahib constituency, both these missing flyovers fall, had last month taken up the issue with Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, seeking early completion of both left-out flyovers at Khant Manpur and Jatana Uncha. Responding to his communication, NHAI GM PN Gawasane has intimated him that the competent authority has approved the construction of both missing flyovers at the cost of Rs 27.3 crore. Earlier, a left-out flyover at the Bhaini Sahib junction was completed and opened for traffic in January following the demand raised by Rajya Sabha MP from Ludhi- ana Sanjeev Arora. The non-availability of requisite land had left three minor stretches, with a length of less than 2-km, incomplete over five years ago when the four-six-laning of the highway that connects Ludhiana with Chandigarh via Kharar had been completed. The issue of land acquisition was resolved recently after the Arora took up the issue with the district administrations of Ludhiana and Fatehgarh Sahib and NHAI officials to get possession of the requisite land for paving way for construction of the missing links. The NHAI officials told The Tribune here on Wednesday that three flyovers on the Kharar to Ludhiana NH-05, with a total length of 76.014km, of which 74.284-km was completed in March 2020, were de-scoped due to various litigations pertaining to land acquisition issues. One of these de-scoped segments, from 65.440-km to 65.885-km at Katani Kalan under Ludhiana district, has already been cleared and the c m y b work on it has been completed by the Concessionaire. Besides, the land required for construction of two other stretches at Khant Manpur and Jatana Uncha, totalling 1.285-km in Fatehgarh Sahib district, has also been handed over to the NHAI, with demolition of structures on them almost completed. “These areas are critical black spots for the project and need expedited completion,” the officials maintained while informing that the NHAI has begun the utility shifting for these two stretches, and the tender allocations are currently in process. The four-six laning of Ludhiana-Chandigarh section of the NH-95 (now NH-05) had begun in 2017 and had been completed in March 2020, following which the NHAI had awarded completion and commercial operation date to the concessionaire, who had since then commenced toll operations. However, the three missing links were causing massive traffic congestion and bottleneck party in development of the constituency,” he said. Dhiman also claimed that out of the 26 ticket aspirants, 22 were men while four were women and 99 per cent aspirants were residents of the West constituency. Party observers have recently met potential candidates and an announcement in this regard was expected soon. Front-runners include Rashi Aggarwal, Jiwan Gupta, Hobby Dhaliwal and advocate Bikram Singh Sidhu. Hobby is an actor, singer and politician who joined the BJP in 2022.” Advocate Sidhu is an experienced lawyer practicing in areas such as criminal law, family law and intellectual property. Senior party leaders are reportedly considering nominating a female leader, which could add a new dynamic to the elections. However, no official announcement has been made yet. on the busy highway as the vehicular traffic from both sides had been diverted on a single lane due to the non-construction of the flyovers and highway stretches, which was causing inconvenience to commuters and was leading to accidents and traffic jams on a daily basis. “Since the issue has been resolved and the possession of requisite land has been taken over, the flyover at the Bhaini Sahib junction has already been opened for vehicular traffic while the work on the rest black spots will also be completed by December,” the RS MP said. ~2,070-cr project The Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approved the foursix-laning of Kharar-Ludhiana section of NH-05 on June 15, 2016. Following this, the NHAI had awarded the work at Rs 2,069.7 crore, including cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities, on September 5, 2016. The total length of the highway to be developed was 76 km. The construction of 76-km Kharar-Ludhiana section involved six-laning of 54 km and four-laning of a 22 km highway. The highway construction had started from Kharar town, passed through Morinda bypass, Khamanno town, Samrala bypass and had terminated at Ludhiana city. Improved connectivity The highway has improved the connectivity and ensured faster movement of traffic from the industrial hub of Ludhiana to Chandigarh and other parts of North India. The project had also provided alternate connectivity of Chandigarh to the NH-1, as well as for the traffic from South-West Punjab to Chandigarh. The project has two major bridges, six minor bridges, eight flyovers, six vehicular underpasses, 10 pedestrian underpasses, 126 culverts, 46-km-long service lane, nine major junctions, 253 minor junctions and 8km-long bypass at Samrala. West constituency,” he alleged. In a complaint, he alleged that the AAP government was deleting the names from the voter list without verifying electors. — TNS Seven employees booked for cheating firm of ~10 crore Ludhiana, April 10 Seven employees of a pharmaceutical company here have been accused of embezzling Rs 10 crore. The suspects, including Rajiv Kumar, Ashwani Kumar and Harpreet Singh allegedly colluded to sell medicines worth crores in the market. An investigation revealed suspicious sales and large-scale medicine sales by the employees, led by former colleague Harpreet Singh. The company’s manager, Rakesh Bahel, said the employees had been working together to commit the fraud. Some of them had been working with the company for over seven years. The probe found that the employees had used their old connections to carry out the scam, causing the company a loss of Rs 10 crore. The police on Wednesday registered a case against the suspects, charging them with cheating and criminal conspiracy. The authorities are expected to make arrests in the case soon. — TNS Biker shot at by masked men Ludhiana, April 10 An incident occurred late on Wednesday evening in Samrala near Dayalpura village in which masked robbers shot a motorcyclist. The victim, Suman Mandal, a native of West Bengal, staying in Ludhiana, suffered a bullet injury. The incident occurred when three labourers were returning on their bike after finishing the work of laying tiles at a petrol pump. On the way, two masked robbers tried to stop them. They opened fire and attacked Suman with a sword. He was hit by two bullets near his waist. Afterwards, the robbers fled the scene with his bike. A case has been registered. — TNS