22082025-ATR-01.qxd 8/21/2025 11:23 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FICCI FLO CELEBRATES DEPTH OF HUMAN CONNECTION GIRL STUDENTS FETED FOR PERFORMANCE IN SPORTS Two girl students of the local school were honoured here by the Sports Department. P2 PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 33°C | MIN 25°C YESTERDAY MAX 33°C | MIN 25°C IF I MAKE A MISTAKE, PAPA IS HERE: ARYAN KHAN The Amritsar chapter of FICCI FLO hosted URJA - Strengthening Relationships - an evocative evening. P2 FORECAST Shah Rukh Khan’s son feels ‘very nervous’ during The Ba***ds of Bollywood event. P4 » » SUNSET FRIDAY 7.06 PM SUNRISE SATURDAY 6.00 AM » FRIDAY | 22 AUGUST 2025 | AMRITSAR Missing minor 10 months into office, MC boy’s body Commissioner Aulakh shifted found from fer, however, has reignited near canal 12th change in criticism over the governTarn Taran, August 21 The Goindwal Sahib police on Thursday found the body of an 10-year-old boy from the canal of Patti distributor (Rajbaha) near Buraj-Ra-Ke village here on Thursday. The deceased has been identified as Gurmandeep Singh Gurman, son of late Dalbir Singh, a resident of Bharowal. He had been missing since Tuesday. ASI Kirpal Singh said the victim along with his minor friend allegedly had gone to take bath in the village canal, but he downed in it. His friend, who was under shock, informed none of the incident. The ASI said a police party had been searching for him around the canal since he went missing. The police team with the help of village residents found the body from the canal at Burj-Ra-Ke village on Thursday. Kirpal Singh said a report under Section 194, BNSS, has been registered on the statement of the victim’s mother. He is survived by his widowed mother and two sisters. — OC the last three and a half years of AAP govt Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 21 In yet another abrupt reshuffle, Municipal Corporation (MC) Commissioner Gulpreet Singh Aulakh has been transferred after just 10 months and 14 days in office. He has been replaced by Bikramjit Singh Shergill, who was earlier serving as the Managing Director of PRTC, Patiala. This transfer marks the 12th change of the city’s MC Commissioner in the last three and a half years of the AAP government, raising serious concerns about instability in leadership and its direct impact on the functioning of the civic body. Residents say frequent reshuffles have hampered dayto-day administration and stalled several key development projects. Aulakh, who joined as the MC Commissioner on October 14 last year, had earned appreciation for boosting the civic body’s revenue and pushing major projects. One of his biggest achievements was finalising the tender for lifting 11 lakh metric tonnes of legacy waste from the Bhagtanwala dump. The task had long been delayed due to lapses on the part of the company Averda, which ultimately admitted in writing during Aulakh’s tenure that it would not execute the work. Notably, despite the frequent transfers under the AAP regime, Aulakh remained the longest-serving MC Commissioner in Amritsar over the last three and a half years. His trans- ment’s handling of civic administration. The series of transfers since March 2022 reflects a turbulent pattern. After the formation of the AAP government, Sandeep Rishi was shifted in April 2022, followed by the short and uncertain tenures of officers including Karnail Singh, Harpreet Singh Sudan, Kumar Saurabh Raj, Rahul, Hardeep Singh (as Joint Commissioner-incharge), Ghanshyam Thori, and Harpreet Singh. On several occasions, the city remained without a regular Commissioner, or appointees did not take charge at all, further disrupting governance. City residents argue that this instability has compounded their civic woes, from sanitation to infrastructure development. “Every Commissioner comes, makes announcements, and then gets transferred before projects see results. We are the ones suffering,” Pawan Sharma, a local activist. BJP leader Bony detained for ‘collecting personal data’ After supporters stage dharna, he was later released from jail Pawan K Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 21 BJP leader Amarpal Singh Bony, district rural president of the party, was detained by Punjab Police when he along with his supporters was holding a camp at Thoba village in Ramdass area under the party’s public outreach programme here on Thursday. Bony was detained at the Ramdass police station and released later in the evening. Agitated over the ‘illegal’ detention of Bony, his supporters and party leaders staged a dharna outside the police station and raised slogans against the alleged high-handedness of the ruling AAP party. The BJP had recently launched a campaign under — BJP de Sewadar aa Gaye Tuhade Dwaar – to drum up support ahead of the 2027 assembly elections. Bony said they had been organis- BJP supporters during a protest outside the Ramdass police station in Amritsar on Thursday. ing camps to apprise the public of various Central Government schemes and facilitating them to avail these schemes. He said they had already organised 19 such camps in various villages and today was the 20th camp. The saffron party had accused the AAP-led state government of forcibly stopping them. Several BJP leaders were stopped from organ- izing such camps in all over the state leading to sharp criticism and condemnation by the BJP leadership. SSP Amritsar (Rural), Manin, der Singh said they have instructions from the state government to properly probe such camps as private individuals at the behest of certain political parties and that they were taking the personal data of people which could poten- tially be misused. He said the action has been taken for verification under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023. Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney said the Punjab Government had received some credible information that certain private individuals were allegedly taking the personal data of local residents in an illegal manner. She warned that as per the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, taking and collecting personal information was a punishable act and the police have been instructed to take appropriate action against those indulging in the illegal act. She urged the people not to share their personal information with any individual or agency which can misuse the information leading to financial frauds. She also appealed to them to inform the district administration if anybody was collecting their information. Minister releases ~32 lakh for BSF, NCB personnel Youth held with hand grenade development of Khankot village seize heroin, nab two Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 21 After receiving several complaints from the Khankot area of Amritsar of contaminated water supply in households, MLA Harbhajan Singh ETO, along with officials of the departments concerned, visited the area and interacted with people here on Thursday. Taking stock of the current situation, he instructed the officials to ensure that lapses are worked out and clean drinking water is supplied to every house. His visit happened after several people from the area fell ill due to consuming contaminated drinking water supply. Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney too had visited the area after the incident on August 18 and marked a probe into what caused the contamination of drinking water. The Cabinet Minister Amritsar, August 21 In a joint operation, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and the Border Security Force (BSF) have confiscated 250 gm of heroin from Harike area in Tarn Taran district and arrested two persons in this connection. However, one of them, identified as Shamsher Singh, managed to flee the spot while the arrested accused was identified as Yadwinder Singh. He was produced in a court, which sent him to police custody for four days for further interrogation. Sources in the NCB said Yadwinder and Shamsher were involved in cross-border drug peddling. They were arrested during a naka in Mand area. While 150gm of heroin was Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO during a visit to Khankot village in Amritsar on Thursday. said action will be taken against any official found guilty after the investigation. He also released a grant of Rs. 32 lakh from his discretionary quota for development works in the area. Giving a one-month ultimatum for water and sanitation issues to be resolved to the department officials, ETO assured the villagers that he would visit Khankot again after a month and see the changed situation for himself. He interacted with villagers to know the current situation and instructed the Health Department to ensure the provision of teams of doctors and medicines to help people in the area and if anyone faces any problem, then they should be treated immediately. BOTH WERE HELD DURING NAKA ■ Sources in the NCB said Yadwinder and Shamsher were involved in cross-border drug peddling. They were arrested during a naka in Mand area. seized from Yadwinder, Shamsher was found in possession of 100 gm contraband. The sources said during the preliminary interrogation of Yadwinder, a name of a political leader had cropped up. The seized contraband was meant for supply in Amritsar and Tarn Taran areas. The duo had earlier supplied narcotics in Majitha area. Meanwhile, the Border Security Force seized a packet of heroin containing around 634 gm of contraband from Daoke border village here. Amritsar, August 21 The special cell of the Amritsar Rural Police have arrested Malkeet Singh, a resident of Pandori village, and recovered a hand grenade and a .30 bore pistol along with 10 lives cartridges from his possession. The police said he was in direct link with UK-based gangster Dharma Sandhu, a close associate of Pakistanbased terrorist Harwinder Singh Rinda of Babbar Khalsa International (BKI). Maninder Singh, SSP , Amritsar (Rural), said the special cell got an intelligence input that Malkeet Singh had collected a consignment of explosives and weapons from near the International Border with Pakistan. The informer said that he was going to deliver the consignment to someone on a bike from Pandori village to Kiralgarh village via Bachiwind. Following this, a police The seized hand grenade and pistol in custody of the Amritsar Rural Police on Thursday. team held a naka at the Bachiwind T-point and intercepted the accused. During search, the police seized a hand grenade, a pistol with magazine and 10 rounds from him. The police have registered a case under the Arms Act added with Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act against him at the Lopoke police station here. “His further links were being established to bust the entire gangster-terror nexus. More arrests are likely to be made during further course of investigations,” added the SSP . MC cracks whip on water, sewerage bill defaulters Posters, billboards deface heritage sites Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 21 The Amritsar Municipal Corporation on Thursday disconnected several illegal water and sewerage connections and also took action against chronic defaulters, who failed to clear long-pending dues. The drive was carried out on the directions of MC Commissioner Gulpreet Singh Aulakh and supervised by Additional Commissioner Surinder Singh. According to officials, despite repeated notices and reminders, many residents and commercial establishments continued to evade payment of their pending bills and had not regularised their illegal connections. Left with no option, the water and sewerage department launched a disconnection campaign across multiple areas. Action was taken in South constituency’s Dilbagh Nagar and Antaryami Colony, and in MC workers disconnect water and sewerage connections of defaulters in Amritsar on Thursday. the East constituency at Sandhu Colony, Batala Road, and Gur Kripa Washing Centre, among other localities. Additional Commissioner Surinder Singh said the civic body had already organised awareness camps in every constituency, urging people to regularise their illegal connections and clear dues. Notices had been served on 1,310 residential and 373 commercial defaulters. Of these, 600 connections were regularised. The department has report- ed a significant increase in revenue collection this financial year. Against Rs 1.69 crore earned during the same period last year, the MC has collected Rs 4.72 crore in 2025-26, registering a jump of more than 280 per cent. Surinder Singh warned that the disconnection drive would continue daily until all defaulters clear their dues. He appealed to the residents to pay their outstanding bills and seek necessary approvals for unauthorised connections to avoid punitive action. It is worth mentioning here that a large number of water sewer connections in the city are illegally connected without any approval from the MC. Two deaths were reported at Khankot village this week due to contaminated water. MC officials claimed that the water contamination may be caused due to illegal connections installed by people on their own. c m y b Manmeet Singh Gill Tribune News Service Amritsar, August 21 The rich heritage and historical charm of the holy city is slowly being buried beneath layers of unauthorised posters and advertisements. What was once a city known for its majestic gates, grand pillars and cultural landmarks is now being defaced by political propaganda, commercial publicity and reckless promotional activities. From the iconic gates of the walled city such as Hall Gate, Hathi Gate, Lahori Gate and Khazana Gate to the historic towers of Darwaza Sultanwind, no part of the city’s heritage seems to be safe. Posters of political parties, religious groups and private businesses have been blatantly plastered across these treasured structures. Even the warning boards installed by the district administration, which clearly state that strict action will be Illegal advertisements deface public properties near the Hall Gate in Amritsar on Thursday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR initiated and fines imposed on those defacing heritage sites, are hidden beneath layers of posters. The message is lost as it is buried under the very violations it tried to prevent. Further, the concrete pillars of elevated road, the overbridges across the bypass and other important public structures have become easy targets for advertisements. Coaching institutes, private hospitals, so-called work-from-home job providers and self-proclaimed medical practitioners have all contributed to this visual pollution. One of the worst examples can be seen near Gobindgarh Fort, where the historic towers built in 1852 stand covered in posters for films, political ral- lies and questionable medical services. Proud symbols of the city’s glorious past, these towers are now symbols of its neglected present. This unchecked defacement is not only destroying the city’s visual appeal but also casting a shadow on the experience of tourists who come here expecting to see history, not hoardings. The Municipal Corporation, in a statement issued recently, had clarified that no individual or organisation has the right to damage public or historical property. The civic body had promised to take strict action against anyone who pastes posters, flex boards, or banners without proper permission. However, the residents are still waiting for the day when it would initiate action. “We congratulate the Amritsar Deputy Commissioner who has taken interest in restoring the glory of Hall Gate recently,” said a resident.