06062025-JTR-01.qxd 6/5/2025 11:44 PM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar tribune ‘ONE JUDGE ONE TREE’ DRIVE MARKS ENVIRONMENT DAY TT HALL RENOVATION DISRUPTS PLAYERS’ PRACTICE Located in the heart of the city near Namdev Chowk, the nine-table tennis hall is set to expand. P3 PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 35°C | MIN 21°C YESTERDAY MAX 34°C | MIN 20°C BEING DIFFERENT IS NOT YOUR WEAKNESS: KUBBRA A massive plantation drive was held at the New Court Complex, where 120 saplings were planted. P2 FORECAST The actress, who will next be seen in Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai, opens up on turning her pain into power. P4 » » SUNSET FRIDAY 7.29 PM SUNRISE SATURDAY 5:23 AM » FRIDAY | 6 JUNE 2025 | JALANDHAR INBRIEF ENGINEER DIES IN MISHAP Phagwara: A tragic accident at a private university in Phagwara claimed the life of a senior engineer on Wednesday evening when a shuttering plate fell on him during construction work. The deceased has been identified as Bhimsen Bhalla (60), a resident of Vinay Nagar, Jalandhar. According to preliminary reports, Bhalla was on-site inspecting ongoing construction when a shuttering plate, part of the temporary support structure used in building work, gave way and fell. The plate struck him, causing severe injuries. He was immediately rushed to the Civil Hospital, but doctors declared him dead on arrival. Further probe is on. — OC MAN ASSAULTED NEAR SDM OFFICE Phagwara: A violent incident was reported outside the SDM office in Sultanpur Lodhi, Kapurthala district, on Wednesday afternoon, where a group of unidentified youths allegedly attacked a man and his friends with bricks and weapons. The victim, Gagandeep Singh, was accompanied by his friends Harman Cheema and Kashish, when he arrived at the local court for a scheduled hearing. As they were exiting the court complex in their car, they were reportedly ambushed by several armed individuals. According to Singh, the assailants shattered the vehicle’s windows using bricks and other objects. The three occupants managed to escape. Sultanpur Lodhi police reached the scene and recorded the statements of victims and eyewitnesses. Further investigation in the case is on. — OC MINOR SIBLINGS GO MISSING Phagwara: Two minor siblings have gone missing under suspicious circumstances from Gobindpura locality of Phagwara. The police have registered a case under Section 346 of the IPC — pertaining to wrongful confinement — against unidentified persons, following a complaint lodged by Satish Anand, a migrant labourer hailing from Bihar, and presently residing in Gobindpura. According to the complaint filed at the city police station, Anand and his wife Radha had gone to work as daily wage labourers on Wednesday morning, leaving their two sons, Shivam (12) and Bambam (10), in the care of their maternal grandmother. Upon returning home later in the day, the couple was shocked to find both children missing. — OC YOUTH BRUTALLY ASSAULTED Phagwara: A 19-year-old youth was brutally assaulted by a group of over 20 men in broad daylight. The incident took place on the evening of June 2 in the Shastri Nagar area, when the victim, Kapish, was standing outside his shop. According to the victim’s statement, around 7:40 pm, several young men arrived in three vehicles. Without any provocation, they stepped out and began attacking him with sticks, iron rods and baseball bats. The victim’s father, Varinder Pal transported Kapish to the Civil Hospital for treatment. Police have registered a case. — OC 17 yrs on, sports hub stone to be laid on June 11 Project planned during SAD-BJP reign in 2008 to be relaunched by CM Bhagwant Mann & Arvind Kejriwal Deepkamal Kaur TIMELINE Tribune News Service Jalandhar, June 5 As the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has attempted to revive the work on sports hub at the 60-acre site in Burlton Park, a question that everyone is asking is whether this government shall be able to accomplish the project envisaged 17 years ago. The project, which had been initially planned, conceived and announced in September 2008 by the SADBJP government and had been re-started during the tenure of the last Congress regime, is set to be relaunched by AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on June 11. Citing details of the same, Jalandhar Mayor Vaneet Dhir said, “It is a Rs 77.7 crore project wherein we shall spruce up the existing facilities for hockey. We shall create facilities for playing domestic cricket. Two astroturfs for hockey and a sevena-side natural grass football ground will also be readied. Besides, a shed will be created for practising yoga.” A skating rink, tennis, volleyball and basketball courts, judo rink, open gym, synthetic athletics track, cycling track and jogging track too are also in the pipeline. As per the first plan ■ September 26, 2008: Proposal to set up sports hub at the Burlton Park passed by MC. Then local bodies minister Manoranjan Kalia made the announcement. ■ May, 2010: CR Narayana Rao Architects from Chennai selected as architects for the project. ■ June, 2012: HUDCO sanctioned Rs 130 crore loan to MC Jalandhar. ■ 2016:Sports hub declared a Jalandhar, June 5 The Jamhoori Kisan Sabha has decided to urge the state and Central governments not to implement schemes that will mean forcibly occupying the fertile land of farmers. A state-level meeting of the Sabha held at Shaheed Sarwan Singh Cheema Bhawan, Garha, Jalandhar, under the chairmanship of Dr Satnam Singh Ajnala, took a decision in this regard. State president of the Sabha, Dr Satnam Singh Ajnala, said the Central government wants to control announced by former Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia and former Mayor Rakesh Rathour in September 2008, it was a Rs 130 crore project. It had been decided that a world-class cricket stadium will be constructed in a 26-acre part of it and a hockey stadium in a nine-acre area. The rest of the space was to be used for developing other sporting facilities including football, an all-weather swimming pool, badminton, basketball, volleyball, squash, handball, netball, a shooting range, skating rink, jogging and a cycling track, billiards, snooker, judo, gymnasium, besides a five-star hotel, spa, health club, restaurant, bar, lounges, meeting halls, 70 shops and commercial centres. As the project was to take the waters of Punjab by robbing the rights of states. He said the state government led by CM Bhagwant Mann is not serious about the river water issue. Ajnala said the government could not fulfill its promise of making canal water reach tail-end villages. While water is not being released in the canals of Punjab, the state’s share will not be allowed to go waste, he said. State general secretary Kulwant Singh Sandhu, while addressing the meeting, said the government’s plan to build urban estates on the fertile lands of farmers and evict farmers from their land will not be allowed to succeed. He said lakhs of acres of fertile land in the state will be rendered unfit for agriculture due to the construction of roads, colonies and urban estates. Due to this, not only will farmers and labourers become unemployed, the risk of food crisis will also increase, the Sabha pointed out. State press secretary Harnek Singh Gujjarwal said formation of units in villages will be accelerated. Farmers were giving full support to form units of the Jamhoori Kisan Sabha, Punjab. off, a group of locals had filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Punjab and Haryana High Court as several trees were to be axed under the project. It was in 2013 that the PIL had been dismissed but by then the tenure of Kalia and Rathour had got over. In 2016, the Centre announced that the sports hub would be built under the Smart City mission. Various proposals were made but no work started on ground. Again on January 6, 2022, Jalandhar MC awarded a tender to a Chandigarh-based company, with a 12-month completion deadline but no headway could be made. Commenting on the planned restart of the project, BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia said, “When we had planned the project 17 years ago, Burlton Park was a good location, but no longer, especially from the point of view of traffic congestion issues around the area. If at all the AAP government wants to invest in developing a sports hub, it should be in the outer area of the city.” Former Sports Minister and Congress MLA Pargat Singh Safai karamcharis to go on strike from today, want demands met Tribune News Service Jalandhar, June 5 The Safai karamchari unions of the Municipal Corporation, Jalandhar, have decided to go on strike from tomorrow. This was decided at a meeting held at the Safai Mazdoor Federation, Punjab, office today. Notably, it is for the second time in a month that the unions have decided to strike work. Presiding over the meeting, Sunny Sahota, general secretary of Safai Mazdoor Federation, Punjab, stated that the Municipal Commissioner and Mayor Vineet Dhir had earlier asked to end the strike on May 16, after agreeing to the urgent demands of the unions. “However, the accepted demands have not yet been acted upon by the Municipal Corporation officials. Therefore, it has now been unanimously decided by all the unions that the strike will begin tomorrow and will continue until all demands are fulfilled,” they said. The demand includes that JCB operators who have been working for 1520 years in various departments of the Municipal Corporation’s workshop should be made permanent employees; sanitation workers, sewadars and sewer men who have been working as drivers for 15-20 years, should be promoted and made permanent drivers as per the seniority list; and all vacant posts of sanitation workers, sewer men, gardeners, beldars, watchmen etc should be filled up immediately. Only 2% of total land under forest cover in district Aparna Banerji ENVIRONMENT DAY Tribune News Service Jalandhar, June 5 Witnessing an aggressive mushrooming of urban residential colonies in new areas every year, Jalandhar district is left with only two per cent of the land under forest cover. Much of the district has been overtaken by rampant urban ‘progress and development’. As per data received by the Agriculture Department, of the total 2,66,224 hectares of geographical land in Jalandhar, only 5,600 hectares — which amount to a mere two per cent — is under forests in the district. Forested land is much less than even the waterlogged, fallow and crop land in the district. Barring the 5,600 hectares of forests —- 17,289 hectares of area is waterlogged, 442 hectares is wasteland, 9,447 hectares is fallow land and 33,1023 is the total cropped area. Vast swathes of forest and made by then CEO of Smart City, Jalandhar, Jitendra Jorwal for an amount of Rs 250 crore. ■ Jan 6, 2022: Jalandhar MC awarded tender to a Chandigarh-based company AS Enterprises, with a 12month completion deadline. ■ June 11, 2025: New inauguration date under AAP govt. An overview of Burlton Park which may see an overhaul of sports hub this year; (right) existing state of infrastructure. The project will have facilities for hockey, cricket, yoga. Centre, state taking away fertile land of farmers for urbanisation: Kisan Sabha Tribune News Service project under Smart City scheme. ■ April 2019: Fresh proposal A tree plantation drive at Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, on World Environment Day. agricultural area in Jalandhar have been overtaken by white concrete monoliths in the past few years, for which kaccha and green land and farms have given way to asphalt roads and paved paths of residential areas. Among the 10 blocks of Jalandhar, Adampur is the most forested and Shahkot is least forested. Of the total 20,331 hectares of land in Adampur, 1,207 hectares is under forests and of the 24,181 hectares of total land of Shahkot, a mere 233 c m y b TRIBUNE PHOTO hectares is forested. In Jalandhar East, only 750 hectares of total 23,835 hectares of land is under forests. In Jalandhar West, only 400 hectares (out of 35,337 ha), in Bhogpur 670 hectares (out of 21,348 ha); in Phillaur 1,250 hectares (out of 30,032 ha); at Nurmahal 438 hectares (out of 26,596 ha); in Nakodar, 352 hectares (out of 44,158 ha); in Lohian Khas, 300 hectares (out of 20,651 ha) is under forests. Chief Agricultural Officer, Jalandhar, Randhir Singh said, “It is true that deforestation is rampant and climate change is also causing a dramatic change in weather patterns with freak and unpredictable weather becoming more common. However, we are working regularly to sensitise farmers to counter the effects of deforestation and carry out rampant afforestation drives as well as plantations. Farmers are regularly being exhorted to retain and increase tree cover in their fields because trees in farms have more chances of surviving owing to regular maintenance and watering of crops.” District Forest Officer Jarnail Singh said, “We are holding regular plantation drives and since last year, an estimated 2,000 trees have been cut in the district and 10 lakh saplings have been planted with similar targets this year.” “With the state government mandating five times compensatory plantation for every tree cut since September 2024, those carrying out deforestation are now being held accountable,” he said. A senior MC official said, “Areas near the Vidhipur Crossing, at Maqsudan, is the only sparsely forested area left in the city. Huge stretches which earlier had trees, over the years have fallen prey to concrete, with little or no plantations undertaken to substitute for it. Even plantation drives turn out to be fake initiatives as most plants die in a few months with no one to water them.” TRIBUNE PHOTOS: MALKIAT SINGH opined, “All planning must be done meticulously. If there is no provision being made for international cricket, it should be developed more like a training ground. There can be two pitches with a capacity to seat 200-500 people. Ample parking provision must be planned. Public money must be spent very meticulously.” Dalit bodies stage symbolic protest, seek arrest of sacrilege accused Our Correspondent Phagwara, June 5 In response to the second incident of desecration of Dr BR Ambedkar’s statue in the village of Nangal, Phillaur, members of local Sri Guru Ravidass Sabha and Ambedkarite as well as Guru Ravidass followers staged a symbolic protest today, demanding swift government action. Leading the demonstration, Dalit rights activist and state leader Amritpal Bhonsle criticised the Punjab government’s failure to prevent such repeated acts of disrespect. Addressing the gathering, Bhonsle alleged that the state’s intelligence agencies have been ineffective in curbing such incidents, which continue to provoke outrage within the Dalit community. “If the government fails to treat these incidents with the seriousness they deserve, we will be left with no choice but to launch a statewide agitation,” Bhonsle warned. He further stated that elements like Gurpatwant Singh Pannun were trying to exploit such tensions but asserted that such divisive agendas would not be allowed to succeed. “The Dalit community understands these manipulative intentions. We will respond not with violence but by spreading the ideology of Dr BR Ambedkar to every household. That is our answer to hatred,” Bhonsle added. He also issued a stern warning to the authorities, stating that if the culprits are not apprehended soon, the protestors would be compelled to adopt a more aggressive stance. “The government should not test our patience,” he cautioned.