24052025-LT-01.qxd 5/24/2025 12:36 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune PR 126 VARIETY OF RICE MORE SUITED TO CONDITIONS: PAU During current season, PR 126 is first choice of farmers and its entire seed stock has been sold out. P2 » DON’T LET THEM PUT YOU IN A BOX, SAYS KUNAL “I’m an actor, entrepreneur, I fly planes, race cars and write. Let your interests collide. That mix-that’s your magic.”P4 » AISHWARYA RAI DAZZLES IN GAURAV OUTFIT AT CANNES The Bollywood star chose a custom couture ensemble by designer Gaurav Gupta for Cannes red carpet. P4 » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 42°C | MIN 27°C YESTERDAY MAX 40°C | MIN 27°C SUNSET SATURDAY 7.15 PM SUNRISE SUNDAY 5:24 AM SATURDAY | 24 MAY 2025 | LUDHIANA Woman’s allegations of sexual assault, robbery found false Mahesh Sharma Raikot, May 23 The police claimed to have resolved an issue in which a woman of Akalgarh village, near Sudhar, had tried to feign a robbery and sexual assault two days ago, allegedly due to financial constraints. Though the Sudhar police had initiated a probe into the allegations levelled by the woman and later found her guilty of misleading the police, no legal action was taken against her. Investigation revealed that the 30-year old woman, a widow, had urged the Sudhar police to register an FIR against unidentified four PSPCL employees, who, according to her, had allegedly entered her house forcibly on Wednesday afternoon when no adult male member was present. Besides levelling charge of sexual assault, the woman had accused intruders of snatching jewellery and cash worth lakhs by threatening to kill her five-year-old son. However, the complaint lodged by the woman was found to be false on Friday. The SSP Ludhiana (rural), , Ankur Gupta, said the woman had tried to misguide the police by lodging a false complaint on Thursday. “As no complaint was received against her, her relatives urged the police to resolve the matter, due to which no FIR was registered against her or the opposite party, based on her statement,” he said. REPEATED ENCROACHMENTS OVER GREEN BELTS DEATH OF THREE PERSONS AFTER LIQUOR CONSUMPTION Principal Secretary, LIT, civic body put on notice Two salesmen of wine shop in police net, outlet sealed Tribune News Service Ludhiana, May 23 On Friday, the Public Action Committee (PAC) has served a legal notice on the Principal Secretary of the Local Body Department, Municipal Corporation and Improvement Trust, Ludhiana, for their act of repeated encroachments over green belts and parks by continuing to construct buildings which are prohibited by the Supreme Court and National Green Tribunal. Kuldeep Singh Khaira and Dr Amandeep Singh Bains said Ludhiana was one of the critically polluted cities having shortage of parks and green belts in the old city area as well as illegally developed new colonies in active connivance with the MC and GLADA but despite such serious issues, the civic body and the Trust are still continuing to reduce the green area (parks and green belts) by continuing to construct buildings. Er Kapil Arora and Gurpreet Singh Plaha said despite directions to demolish similar buildings in Ludhiana, such moves were still being made by the MC and LIT which clearly indicates that they were habitual PAC says the construction of buildings in green belt is a sheer wastage of public money. ‘WILL MOVE NGT IF ACTION NOT TAKEN IN 3 WEEKS’ PAC members said they had given three weeks to departments and in case action was not taken for restitution of green belts and parks, they would move the NGT. offenders and had no respect for court as well as its orders. Officials of the MC and LIT seem to pleasing politicians rather than performing their lawful duties, they said. The MC Zone-D extension building has already been demolished following the orders of the NGT and there are also orders to demolish the library building constructed in a park on Old GT Road. However, despite such orders, the MC is spending public money on construction of similar buildings over land of green areas on Old GT Road, Barewal Awana, Dog Park at BRS Nagar, library building at Janta Nagar and other places. Er Jaskirat Singh and Preet Dhanao from the PAC said complaints were filed against impugned constructions on the m-Sewa portal but the voice had not reached the deaf ears. “Not even a single environmental project is being properly handled and managed by these offices and they are passing the buck. The construction of buildings in green belt is a sheer wastage of public money and the entire money should be recovered from the authorities who gave nod to such illegal constructions,” said Dhanao. The PAC members said they had given three weeks to departments and in case action was not taken for restitution of green belts and parks, they would move the NGT. Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, May 23 A day after the death of three persons allegedly after consuming liquor in the city, the Ludhiana police after registering a case on the charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, multiple people engaged in criminal act with a shared intention and under the Excise Act, arrested two salesmen of the wine shop. The suspects were identified as Onkar Singh of Chamba, HP and Sushil , Kumar, a native of Kangra, HP As many as 422 quarters . of Raspberry brand were also seized by the police. Commissioner of Police (CP) Swapan Sharma told The Tribune that after regis- tering a case and arresting the two salesmen, further investigation was launched by the police in the case. “From the recovered bottles, samples were also sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Mohali, and even viscera samples were also sent for examination to inquire about the exact cause of death. Once the reports of the samples arrive, the police will initiate further legal proceedings in the case. Guilty will not be spared,” the CP said. Sharma informed that questioning of the nabbed salesmen was on to gather any clue and if the role of any other person comes to light, action would be taken. As per information, the Excise Department sealed the wine shop located in Sanyas Nagar and separate investigation was also being conducted by the department. Notably on the night of May 21, Rinku, Mangoo and Debi had lost their lives after consuming liquor. Initially one person had brought dead to the Civil Hospital and later, two more succumbed during the treatment. Senior BJP leader Amarjit Singh Tikka while terming the deaths due to liquor as a serious matter demanded a judicial probe. He demanded that the probe should be time-bound and guilty should not be spared. Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Gurdev Sharma Debi visited the house of the three deceased and handed over cheques amounting to continued on page 2 BJP leader Gurdev Debi hands over a cheque to kin of a deceased in Ludhiana. INDERJEET VERMA Major fire at Sundar Nagar hosiery shop Woman among 5 nabbed with drugs in early morning raid in EWS Colony Tribune News Service Ludhiana, May 23 A major fire broke out in hosiery and packing material shop in Sundar Nagar here on Friday morning. Stock worth lakhs of rupees gutted in the fire. Though the exact reason of the fire was yet to be ascertained, a short-circuit in electricity supply cables in the shop was suspected to the cause. Since the shop is located in a densely populated area, panic gripped nearby shopkeepers. They said there would have been a major tragedy had the fire spread in adjoining shops but quick response of fire personnel prevented any further damage. A worker at a shop told mediapersons that the incident occurred around 9.30 am and the shop owner was yet to open the shop. Sparks erupt- A fireman climbs a ladder to douse the flames at a hosiery shop in Sundar Nagar. ASHWANI DHIMAN ed in the electricity meter installed outside the shop and in no time, it caused a shortcircuit in electric supply cables inside the shop. In no time, sparks took the shape of a big fire. People reportedly called the fire control room and within a few minutes, fire tenders reached the scene. Aatish Rai, a sub-fire officer, said when the fire personnel reached the scene, the shop was closed. They had to break open the main shutter to douse the intense flames. In around one-and-ahalf hour, the blaze was controlled completely. He said a short-circuit could be the cause of the fire. Ludhiana, May 23 The Ludhiana police conducted early morning raids at houses of smugglers in EWS Colony, Tajpur Road, on Friday. Five persons, including a woman, were arrested by the police and drugs were seized from their possession. The raid was led by Commissioner of Police (CP) Swapan Sharma, DCP Harpal Singh, ADCP (Crime) Amandeep Singh Brar, ACP Rajesh Sharma and other police officials. The CP while addressing a press conference said the police had been keeping a tab over activities of the suspects and on Friday morning, a surprise call was given to the police force and a raid was conducted. Jatinder Kumar, a resident of Bhamian, was arrested with 20 gm of heroin, Ajay, alias Sunny, CP Swapan Sharma addresses mediapersons in Ludhiana on Friday. HIMANSHU MAHAJAN and Deepak from Jawahar Nagar Camp, were arrested with 27 gm of heroin, a woman, Beetu, of EWS Colony, Tajpur Road, was arrested with 70 tablets of salt alprazolam, 450 tablets of snospas, one empty strip of prega capsules and an empty strip of brufen tablets and Mohammad Sabir was held with 30 gm of heroin. ADCP (Crime) Amandeep Singh Brar said some other smugglers were also detained and cases were being registered against them. The police had already made a list of some notorious smugglers who after coming out on bail were continuing the illegal trade. On May 13 also, the police had conducted a raid and arrested four drug smugglers, Sahil of New Ashok Nagar with 40-gm heroin, Sanjeev Kumar with 120-gm heroin, Raju of New Shivpuri with 155-gm ganja and Mehakpreet, alias Vicky Bath, of Bajigar Der with 50 gm of heroin. Five smugglers were also taken into preventive custody. — TNS AAP’s land acquisition proposal draws flak Man held with illegal weapons Our Correspondent Shivani Bhakoo Tribune News Service Ludhiana, May 23 The AAP-led government in the state has announced to acquire about 24,000 acres of land, majority of which belongs to farmers in the district, for ‘urbanisation’. The proposal came as a big shock as till date no huge chunk of land like this was acquired by any government and repercussions of the same will be “drastic” and it would be a betrayal with the farming community, who are feeding lakhs, say leaders belonging to various political parties. A rough data collected by one of the former Chief Agriculture Officers of Ludhiana Sukhpal Singh Sekhon reveals that about 24,000 acres will be acquired, causing an approximate revenue loss to the farmers to the tune of Rs 346 crore per year. Secondly, a labourer working with a farmer at an average salary of approximately Rs 15,00020,000 would leave the state. A total of almost 3,000 such labourers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh would be left in the lurch as they would end up leaving Punjab, said Sekhon, adding that as per a rough estimate, there were about 40 villages, having over have 16,000 houses and the population which will be affected will be around 60,000 in these villages. Kuldeep Singh Khalsa from Issewal village said the land acquisition dream of the AAP government would ruin farmers. He said dairy farmers, dairy shops, vegetable vendors, tractor manufactuers, combine operators, commission agents and seed shops, everything was interlinked. If farmers are asked to move, it would have serious impact on everyone, there would be no supply, no work. Meanwhile, SAD president Sukhbir Badal has already announced to protest against the move on May 29 outside the GLADA office here. Villagers feel that it clearly indicates that if any farmer would disagree on the same, his land will be aquired using Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, and he cannot do anything. At the same time, Sanjeev Arora, AAP candidate for the Ludhiana West bypoll, said the matter was being twisted to get political mileage. “The government is not going to adopt any forceful measure to acquire the land without consent of farmers,” he said. Aam Aadmi Party’s move direct assault on people: BJP Bharatiya Janta Party, c m y b Punjab, General Secretary, Parminder Singh Brar, on Friday launched a scathing attack on the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, calling its move a direct assault on the people of the state. Addressing the media, Brar exposed the “shocking” plan of the state government to grab over 24,000 acres of fertile land near Ludhiana, a move that will impact farming families, some of whom have been tilling the land for generations. “It is not just a land grab but a livelihood theft. If this happens, it will be the last nail in the coffin of AAP’s state government,” Brar added. Ludhiana, May 23 The Ludhiana (rural) police have zeroed in on a gang of miscreants. The police suspect it might solve several cases. Two pistols and two loaded magazines were seized from Harashdeep Singh Harash of Majri village, who was arrested by police personnel, supervised by Jodhan SHO Sahibmeet Singh, on Thursday. Another suspect, Sarabjot Singh Sabbu of Majri, who was nominated on Friday on the basis of information obtained from the main suspect, is already facing a case under the NDPS Act. SSP Ankur Gupta said the enhanced surveillance under supervision of SP (D) Harkamal Kaur, DSP (D) Inderjit Singh Boparai and Dakha DSP Varinder Khosa had resulted in the arrest of a youth of Majri village, who was reportedly keeping illegal weapons and ammunition. “Having received a tip-off about anti-social activities of some youths, we enhanced surveillance in the region. During a naka laid at Narangwal Chowk in Jodhan, the police received information about Harashdeep moving with illegal weapons,” Gupta said, adding that prompt action taken under the supervision of the Jodhan SHO resulted in the arrest of the suspect with two weapons and ammunition. The police had overpowered Harashdeep when he was going on foot near a gaushala on the Dolon Khurad-Bagla Mukhi Mandir road. Though the investigating team is yet to ascertain details of the suspect and his accomplice nominated in the case, the police expect to solve several incidents of snatching and threat call. The police did not rule out the possibility of notorious gangsters using the suspects as local conduits.