05052025-LT-01.qxd 04-05-2025 22:36 Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune THE TRIBUNE’S REAL ESTATE EXPO’25 CONCLUDES SEARCH OPERATION AT MALERKOTLA SUB-JAIL DILJIT CONFIRMS MET GALA 2025 RED CARPET DEBUT The expo concluded on Sunday, witnessing a positive response from visitors from across the region.P2 To eliminate the possibility of unlawful activities by inmates, the police held an extensive search operation. P2 Diljit Dosanjh has confirmed his much-anticipated attendance at the fashion industry’s biggest night. P4 » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 36°C | MIN 24°C YESTERDAY MAX 33°C | MIN 22°C SUNSET MONDAY 7.08 PM » SUNRISE TUESDAY 5:37 AM MONDAY | 5 MAY 2025 | LUDHIANA ‘No tolerance road’ initiative shows positive impact, no more traffic jams Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, May 4 The city police initiative of declaring eight city roads as ‘no tolerance zones’ has started yielding positive results. Traffic on these roads is now smooth and commuters are having an uninterrupted ride. Brainchild of Police Commissioner Swapan Sharma, two days ago, he, along with DCP Parminder Singh Bhandal, ACP (Traffic) Jatin Bansal and other officials of traffic police had visited these roads and after holding meeting with shopkeepers and even the roadside vendors had issued them directions to ensure they would not resort to encroachments on roads. The roads declared ‘no tolerance roads’ are Field Ganj Road from Jagraon bridge to Civil Hospital (both way), Rahon Road, Jodhewal Chowk to Jagirpur Road cut, Bhamian Road from New Onkar Vihar cut to Bhamian Colony cut, Chandigarh Road from Government High School, Mundian cut, to 33-ft road vegetable market stretch, Chimney Road, Field Ganj Road, a ‘no tolerance zone’, saw no traffic jams or chaos due to the impact of police campaign on Sunday. PHOTO: ASHWANI DHIMAN canal bridge, Pakhowal, to indoor stadium (both way), Atam Park to Libra cut, Dugri road (both way) and Dandi Swami Chowk to DMC Hospital cut. This correspondent, along with the lensman visited the road from Dandi Swami Chowk to DMC cut, Field Ganj Road and even Ghumar Mandi Road, which is also to be added in ‘no tolerance road’ category soon, and noticed smooth movement of traffic. No traffic jam was found as used to be in earlier days. Especially on Sunday, traffic would always go haywire on Ghumar Mandi Road, reason encroachments by shopkeepers, roadside vendors and wrong parking. Field Ganj Road, which otherwise used to witness traffic jams and even ambulances heading to Civil Hospital AAP holds highest stakes in Ludhiana byelection Saffron party has significant presence in constituency Shivani Bhakoo Tribune News Service Ludhiana, May 4 Even as there is no clarity on the date of polling for the Ludhiana (West) Assembly by-election, but this has not deterred the political parties from starting their campaigning. Of the four mainstream political parties, only the Bharatiya Janata Party has not announced its candidate so far. The party is yet to begin its official “campaigning” with the candidate. The byelection was necessitated by the untimely death of the AAP MLA from here, Gurpreet Singh Gogi. The ruling Aam Aadmi Party was the first to announce its candidate Sanjeev Arora. He is the sitting Rajya Sabha MP and belongs to Ludhiana. Although not a traditional politician, his tryst with politics started when he became AAP’s Rajya Sabha member in 2022. Arora, a successful businessman, immersed himself into politics and during the last three years had remained focussed on Ludhiana. He claims to have expedited the completion of various projects which were started by the previous regimes like the Ferozepur elevated road project and getting the Halwara airport operationalised. But the flights have still not started. Arora was the first to begin his campaign with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, along with the AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, who has visited the city twice for his campaigning. The extra interest the AAP is taking in Ludhiana (West) byelection is attributed to the party’s plan to get Arora’s RS seat vacated for Kejriwal. Arora told The Tribune that he was termed as industrialists’ man. He said that till date he had attended 50 The hoardings of AAP and Congress candidates dot the city even as the date for the byelection is yet to be announced. FILE PHOTO booth-level meetings and over 100 social gatherings and the way the masses were giving their love and affection, his connection with the masses had strengthened. Arora said that he was fully satisfied with the way the campaign was getting the response. The Congress had also announced its candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu from here. Ashu is the working president of the Punjab Congress and a former minister. He has represented the constituency twice in 2012 and 2017. He had lost to Gogi in 2022. Talking to The Tribune, Ashu said that the campaign was going strong and what they had lost in the last three years, they would get back because of the achievements and works done during the regime of Congress and failure of the present government in the last three years. Ashu said that people were fed up with AAP government’s failures. The political vendetta against the Congress leaders and fake FIRs registered against them were open for all to see the highhandedness of the ruling party, he said. The SAD has fielded Parupkar Singh Ghuman, a prominent city lawyer and a former president of the District Bar Association, Ludhiana. The SAD does not have much stake in this segment, particularly after having parted ways with the BJP which has a signifi, cant presence here. In 2022, the BJP got about 28,000 votes from here, while in the 2024 General Election, the BJP got the highest of 45,424 votes from this segment. Congress got 30,889, while the AAP got 22,461 and SAD got 5,560. Since the AAP has the highest stake involved in this byelection, as it will be first after its Delhi defeat, the party does not seem to be taking any chances here. Otherwise, with 94 seats already in a house of 117, the victory otherwise would not make any difference to its numerical strength in the House. All three parties are keenly awaiting the announcement of the BJP candidate. Much will depend on the BJP candidate, whose performance can alter the balance. Besides, the BJP is among the favourites, given its performance from this segment in the parliamentary elections. Anil Sarin, senior BJP leader from Ludhiana, said that the party might announce the candidate any time and the party was already geared up for campaigning. used to get stuck in the traffic. Surprisingly on every Sunday, this road used to be a mess, but today the road was clear for smooth traffic movement. Shopkeepers did not extend their shops on road and none put any goods on the roads as they used to. Even the roadside vendors (including rehriwalas), which were the reasons of main traffic hindrance were seen setting up their vends behind the yellow line. Same was the situation on Dandi Swami Chowk to DMC cut, where fruit sellers used to put their vends almost on the road, leading to major traffic jams. Even ambulances leading to DMC hospital would often get stuck in the traffic jam. The Commissioner said that the police initiative was showing good results and people, including shopkeepers, are sending feedback to police and expressing happiness over the initiative. “Shopkeepers are now openly accepting that earlier due to traffic bottlenecks on roads their customers used to face huge inconvenience, but with police effort, footfall of clients have increased,” he added. Bhandal said after declaring no tolerance roads, 40 PCR motorcycles and 10 new emergency response vehicles had been deployed in the city to strengthen the city’s traffic management system. These vehicles were patrolling city’s busiest roads and on finding a jam, they immediately man traffic and remove any encroachment and challan the offender. ‘~15L loot’ case: Cops suspect amount to be less than ~5 lakh Ludhiana, May 4 A crime case in which bike riders had snatched money from a factory employee riding an Activa on an elevated bridge in Mann Singh Nagar yesterday, the police has said that the looted amount could be less than what was reported. According to eyewitnesses present on the spot, after the crime the scooterist was shouting that Rs 15 lakh had been snatched, but during police investigation it came to light that the amount could be less than Rs 5 lakh. So far, in the case registered against unknown suspects, only Rs 35,000 have been mentioned by the complainant and the remaining amount was yet to be ascertained. Yesterday, a person named Rajpal was going on his Activa when two miscreants riding a Platina bike came from the Jagraon bridge side. They snatched the bag hanging around his neck. According to Rajpal, he fought with the miscreants, but they dragged him for a long distance due to which he also got injured. Police investigation revealed that the robbers fled towards Kochar Market. SHO Inspector Harpreet Singh said that the amount could be between Rs 3 to Rs 5 lakh as the factory owner was yet to be ascertain the exact amount because factory employeecum-victim had been doing the collection and also making payments on behalf of the factory owner. The amount of Rs 35,000 mentioned by the complainant were said to be his only, but he was not sure about the amount he collected on behalf of the factory. “We have gathered important clues about the suspect and soon the case will be solved,” held SHO Harpreet. — TNS Around 5K students appear for NEET exam Ludhiana, May 4 The NEET exam was conducted today with about 23 lakh candidates in 550 cities reportedly appearing for the medical entrance test. In Ludhiana, 4,990 students had got themselves registered for the exam for which elaborate arrangements had been made by the district administration. Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Jain said that a total of 13 centres were allocated for conducting the examination which will be held in the evening shift from 2 pm to 5 pm. For students with disabilities, the examination would be held till 6 pm, said Jain, adding that in this extreme weather conditions, proper arrangements had been made so that the students c m y b do not face difficulties. The centres where the examination was conducted included Government College for Girls, Government Model Senior Secondary School, Cemetery Road, Meritorious school, GSSS Haibowal, GSSS Boys, Jawahar Nagar, GSSS, Jawahar Nagar, School of Eminence, Model Town, GSSS, PAU, GSSS Multipurpose, School of Eminence, Sector 32, Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Gill, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Baddowal, GSSS Ayali Khurd. Attendants and parents of many candidates were seen braving the hot weather sitting in their vehicles or under the shade of trees waiting for their wards to return after appearing in the exam. — TNS Health Dept asked to map OOAT centres Mahesh Sharma Mandi Ahmedgarh, May 4 Authorities of the Health Department have been advised to undertake mapping of all Outpatient Opioid Assisted Treatment (OOAT) centres keeping in mind the hotspots identified by the Police Department for drug abuse. The decision to undertake mapping was taken during a review meeting of Norco Coordination Centre (NCORD) held under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner Viraj S Tidke. ADC Sukhpreet Singh Sidhu chaired the meeting. Ahmedgarh SDM Harbans Singh said that the Health Department personnel led by Assistant Civil Surgeon Sajil Khan had been advised to ensure that healthcare officials deployed at all OOAT centres were in regular coordination with the police personnel of their respective areas and have adequate knowledge about the profile of inhabitants of localities identified as hotspots for drug abuse and drug peddling. “Though officials of various departments have been doing their best to fight against the menace of drug abuse, there is great need of further coordination among personnel at OOAT centres, de-addiction centres, rehabilitation wings and the police,” said Sidhu, Referring to information received from SP(D) Sat Pal, the ADC said that more than 64 drug peddlers had been nabbed after registering 25 cases under the NDPS Act in three weeks and a haul of drugs and narcotics, including 296 gm of heroin, were seized from various places. Youth, sister attacked in Ajnaud village, 1 injured Lovleen Bains Doraha, May 4 A youth and her sister, both residents of Ajnaud village near here, were attacked by two unidentified miscreants with sharp-edged weapons on a road outside the village when they were going to a gym at Sahnewal early on Wednesday morning. While the injured girl is recuperating from her injuries, a case has been registered at the Doraha police station yesterday. Ramanjot, the youth, was on her two-wheeler with her cousin Navjot on Ajnaud- Sahnewal road when they were stopped midway by two motorcycle-borne miscreants. One of them attacked the girl with a screwdriver and injured her throat in an attempt to kill her as she resisted the attack. During this time, the other tried to attack Ramanjot, but was hit by the steel bottle carried by her cousin and thus foiling his attempt. “I shouted at the top of my voice and some villagers on hearing our pleas came running to us. Seeing them coming, the two unidentified miscreants, who had covered their faces and spoke nothing, fled from the spot,” said Ramanjot. “The villagers later informed us that the two had been keeping a track of their movement day before yesterday and were armed with daggers and kirpans. As they could not find a chance to attack us that day, they came the next day and waited for us to arrive. I have no inclination of who they are and what their purpose is. What I could observe was only that the man who attacked me had red eyes as if he was intoxicated,” Ramanjot, the victim added. “I get goosebumps when I recall the manner in which I was attacked and how I resisted the attack with failing strength. Had it not been for the villagers’ support, the two would have ended our lives,” said Ramanjot, who is still trying to come out of the trauma. Meanwhile, a case under Sections 115(2) 127(1) and 3(5) of the BNS has been registered at the Doraha police station on the complaint of Ramanjot. The police has assured the family that the miscreants would soon be in the police net. Tagore Nagar residents back Arora ahead of bypoll Tribune News Service Ludhiana, May 4 Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora received a warm reception from residents of Tagore Nagar (Block-A) during a breakfast meeting held at Krishna Park this morning. Concerns related to park beautification, traffic management, car parking, drainage and sewer cleaning, tree trimming, electrical safety and garbage disposal were raised. Arora immediately contacted relevant officials, who assured swift action.