20062025-ATR-01.qxd 6/19/2025 11:21 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune TWO CHILD LABOURERS RESCUED DURING RAID CADETS LEAD YOGA FOR BETTER TOMORROW BRAD PITT TALKS ABOUT NEW FILM F1, HIS NEW HAIRSTYLE Officials rescued two child labourers and admitted them to schools and assured them of all help. P2 The International Day of Yoga was celebrated by the NCC Group Headquarters, Amritsar, today. P2 Brad Pitt recently talked about his latest look at the New York City premiere of his new movie F1. P4 » » » FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 35°C | MIN 30°C YESTERDAY MAX 36°C | MIN 30°C SUNSET FRIDAY 7.22 PM SUNRISE SATURDAY 5.24 AM FRIDAY | 20 JUNE 2025 | AMRITSAR MC starts camps to regularise water, sewerage connections Tribune News Service Amritsar, June 19 The Amritsar Municipal Corporation has announced a one-time settlement (OTS) policy for city residents to regularise unauthorized water and sewerage connections and clear property tax dues without paying any interest or penalty. To facilitate this, the MC will organise special camps across various constituencies of the city from June 20 to 30. Around one lakh unauthorized water and sewerage connections were taken by residents across the city under various development schemes, such as Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation AMRUT and South-East Projects. However, these connections were not regularised, leading to revenue losses for the MC. The upcoming camps will allow citizens to get these connections regularised easily. Additional Commissioner Surinder Singh, following the directions of Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Aulakh, chaired a meeting with officials of the Water, Sewerage and Property Tax Departments to plan the execution of these camps. He PUBLICITY OF INITIATIVE VIA ANNOUNCEMENTS ■ Additional Commissioner Surinder Singh chaired a meeting with officials of the Water, Sewerage and Property Tax Departments to plan the execution of these camps. He instructed officials of the Amritsar Municipal Corporation to ensure wide publicity of the initiative through announcements and hoardings in the respective areas and to work in coordination with area councillors to ensure maximum public participation. instructed the officials to ensure wide publicity of the initiative through announcements and hoardings in the respective areas and to work in coordination with area councillors to ensure maximum public participation. The Additional Commissioner said camps will be set up in the western, southern, northern, and eastern parts of the city. In the western zone, the first camp will be held on June 20 at RB Estate, Loharka Road. In the southern zone, the camp will be held on June 23 near Gurudwara Atari Sahib, opposite the School of Eminence (Girls), Sultanwind village. The northern zone camp is scheduled for June 24 near Escort Hospital, in front of Green Land and close to a local gurdwara. The eastern zone will host its camp on June 25 at Gurdwara Guru Teg Bahadur in Rajesh Nagar. Again, the western zone will have another camp on June 26 at RB Estate, Loharka Road. The southern zone will have its second camp on June 27 in front of Anand Bakery near Kot Mit Singh on Tarn Taran Road. The final camp in the northern zone will take place on June 30 at Laxmi Vihar near Kali Mata Mandir. He said the Punjab Government has implemented a OTS scheme to collect property tax dues from previous years. Under this scheme, residents can pay their outstanding dues without any interest or penalties until July 31. Staff of the Property Tax Department will also be present during the camps to assist residents in clearing their dues. The Additional Commissioner appealed to residents to take full advantage of this facility. He warned that those who fail to regularise their water and sewerage connections or pay property tax dues within the given period may face legal action and disconnection of their services in the future. Two snatchers nabbed with snatched scooter, bike Tribune News Service Amritsar, June 19 The Gate Hakima police have arrested two persons in connection with a snatching case. The police also recovered the snatched scooter and a bike used in the crime from their possession. Those arrested were identified as Bau and Captain of Kohali village falling under the Lopoke police station (the area under the Amritsar rural police). Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police Vishaljit Singh said on June 14, Vinod Kumar, a resident of Prem Nagar locality, along with his friend Sukhjit Singh, alias Bugga, was going from Ram Bagh to his residence. He said when they reached near Gobindgarh Fort, four persons riding two motorcycles intercepted them and snatched their scooter. He said following investigations, the police identified one of the suspects as Bau and arrested him on June 17. The police recovered the scooter and motorcycle used in crime from him. He said the police today arrested his accomplice Captain and raids were on to nab their two accomplices who were identified by the police. Digital verification of ward boundaries soon Tribune News Service Amritsar, June 19 The Local Bodies Department has issued directions for the verification of ward boundaries under the jurisdiction of the Amritsar Municipal Corporation, in accordance with the newly approved digitized Schedule of Boundaries. This verification will be based on land parcel identifiers (Khasra numbers), making it a joint responsibility of the Revenue Department and the munici- COMPLETE VERIFICATION PROMPTLY: OFFICIAL ■ During the meeting, the Additional Commissioner emphasised the urgency and importance of the GIS-based mapping project. He directed all departments to ensure that the digital boundary verification work is completed promptly and with full accuracy. pal corporation to carry out the task in coordination. To expedite this process, a key meeting was held today under the chairmanship of MC Additional Commissioner Surinder Singh. The meeting was attended by officials from both departments, including city patwaris (rev- enue officials), Assistant Commissioner Rajinder Sharma, Senior Town Planner Parmpal Singh, Urban Planner Mani Sharma, and Junior Engineers from the O&M and civil departments. Also present were representatives from the GIS Cell, Navpreet Singh, Shamsher Singh and Shashi Kumar. During the meeting, the Additional Commissioner emphasised the urgency and importance of the GIS-based mapping project. He directed all departments to ensure that the digital boundary verification work is completed promptly and with full accuracy. The digitisation and verification of municipal boundaries is considered a crucial step toward better urban governance, land use planning, and efficient service delivery in Amritsar, he added. Surge in applications for undergraduate courses, GNDU to increase seat capacity Neha Saini Tribune News Service Amritsar, June 19 With the opportunities to study abroad getting limited, there has been a surge in the number of those seeking to be enrolled in undergraduate courses in Punjab this year. Guru Nanak Dev University this year has witnessed a rise in the number of admission applications, say more than double the seats, for undergraduate courses. Dean (Academic Affairs) Dr Palwinder Singh, GNDU, said the university has 6,500 approved seats for all undergraduate courses. “But we have received 16,000 applications for admissions already. This is a huge response in terms of resources at the university,” he said. Witnessing this surge, the university is now considering conducting centralised entrance exams and approving additional seats for courses that are in demand. “For the past three-four years, there had been a decline in the number of undergraduate students due to mass student migration. We did away with the entrance exam for some of our courses and used The university is now considering conducting centralised entrance exams and approving additional seats for courses that are in demand. to consider merit. But this year, centralised exams for all undergraduate courses in life sciences, social sciences and computer-based courses will be done,” he informed. Since the university decides on its seats requirement per courses given its autonomy over the matter, this year social sciences, architecture and computer and IT courses might also see an increase in the number of seats. “If a course has 60 approved seats and the number of students is exceedingly high for admissions, we might consider raising the number of seats to 120 for it,” he said. The university has already announced an additional 53 new courses from this academic session onwards due to the surge in admissions. Additionally, colleges in cities like Amritsar, Tarn Taran and surrounding rural areas are reporting an unprecedented demand for undergraduate seats —breathing life into institutions that only months ago feared closure amid dwindling enrolments. GNDU also considers reinforcing faculty and other infrastructure in its constituent colleges in Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Tarn Taran. c m y b Despite ban, posters continue to deface public space in city Pawan K Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, June 19 Despite ban, congratulatory banners have been fixed on signages and direction towers located in Putlighar, Gawal Mandi and Rani Ka Bagh areas with the civic authorities looking the other way. The illegal banner-fixing activity is continuing in these areas. Inaction by the municipal corporation against the erring persons has only boosted the morale of the offenders who give no second thoughts while covering these signages putting commuters, especially people from outside the city, to inconvenience. Being a holy city, Amritsar is a major religious and tourist destination. It witnesses a huge footfall of tourists visiting the Golden Temple and the Attari-Wagah joint check-post on a daily basis to witness the flag-lowering ceremony, Ram Tirath temple, etc. The covering of signages with banners mean difficulties for commuters in finding the right roads to their destinations. The towers, which guide commuters to their destina- A signage tower covered with a banner in Amritsar on Thursday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR tions, are completely covered with banners. Putting up any type of banner on signages is a complete violation of the norms. Hundreds of advertising unipoles have been installed at every nook and corner of the city. If any organisation wants to put up banners, they find it convenient to hire these advertising unipoles. They should at least spare the direction towers, said Rajesh Arora, a resident of Putlighar area. “Had the Amritsar Municipal Corporation authorities taken the strict action against the offenders in the past, they would not have dared repeat the offence? said Tilak Raj, another local resident. This time, even the picture of a criminal, facing many cases, has come up. He had very good connections with cops as well as politicians. In the recently held municipal corporation elections, his wife had emerged winner and elected as a councillor. MC Commissioner Gulpreet Singh Aulakh said the matter was not in his knowledge. He said the banners would be removed positively tomorrow.