20052026-JTR-01.qxd 5/19/2026 11:25 PM Page 1 c m y b Jalandhar tribune KISAN BODY PROTESTS OVER CANE PAYMENT IRREGULARITIES RURAL HEALTH CENTRES STRUGGLE AMID STAFF SHORTAGE JACQUELINE STUNS IN BLACK SEQUIN DRESS AT CANNES The protest was held over haphazard payments made by the department through online mode on May 6 and 7. P2 According to departmental records, 18 out of 30 Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) posts remain vacant.P3 The actor makes another high-profile appearance at the 2026 edition of the prestigious global event. P4 » » FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR MAX 43°C | MIN 28°C YESTERDAY MAX 42°C | MIN 28°C SUNSET WEDNESDAY 7.20 PM SUNRISE THURSDAY 5:27 AM » WEDNESDAY | 20 MAY 2026 | JALANDHAR Anti-sacrilege law invoked after religious book pages found torn Police register case against unknown persons |Dharna staged as probe begins Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 19 An incident of sacrilege was reported on late Monday evening in the Raja Garden locality near Basti Bawa Khel wherein torn pages of gutka sahib were found strewn in the lanes. The police have registered a case against unknown persons under the provisions of Section 299 of the BNS and Section 5 of the Jagat Jot Shri Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Act 2008 (Amendment BIll 2006) at Basti Bawa Khel Police Station. A complaint had been lodged into the matter by Narinder Singh Lucky Khalsa of the Mission Shaheedan Tarna Dal Harian Velan, Jalandhar, Aam Aadmi Party leader Iqbal Singh Bagga and nihang Sikh Taranjit Singh. The copy of the FIR has a note at the end saying that both BNS and the new antisacrilege Act had been imposed. The new Act had been imposed manually as the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network Systems had not been updated to include it digitally. This is for the first time that the new Act has been imposed by the police in the district. As soon as the news spread around 10 pm last evening, Bagga and various nihang jathas had reached the spot and took possession of the torn angs of the holy scripture. They informed the police. Jalandhar West ACP Aatish Bhatia and his team also reached the spot and started investigation. He listened to the complaints and checked CCTV footages of the incident from the locality to collect evidences. Bagga said, “The incident took place in a vacant plot near Nanak Hatt along Baba Budha Ji bridge. There are several quarters of the migrant labourers in the locality and the sacrilege seems to be the handiwork of someone from the migrant community”. The torn angs were spotted from the site where residents had been dumping waste, which evoked unrest within the Sikh community. Various Sikh activists, including Sukhminder Pal Singh Rajpal and others, started gathering at the site. They demanded immediate identification of the accused and their arrest. They started a dharna near the bridge at 2 am which continued for over half an hour. SIKH BODIES AGAINST NEW ACT Sikh organisations and members of various local gurdwara management committees alleged that the desecration was carried out deliberately as part of a well-thought-out conspiracy so as to enforce the Act. Various Sikh activists on Tuesday submitted a memorandum regarding desecration to Manpreet Singh Dhillon, DCP , Investigation, and demanded that the new anti-sacrilege Act should not be imposed as it had not yet been approved by the Akal Takht. They said a meeting of more than 500 Sikh activists had been organised at Nauvi Patshahi gurdwara at Guru Tegh Bahadur Nagar against the implementation of the Act and the recent Shukrana Yatra of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. They said the sacrilege incident had occurred just a day after the meeting deliberated to bring the new Act into practice. They demanded that the accused of desecration be booked under the old law and a narco test should be conducted in the presence of Sikh organisations. A high-level committee should be formed to bring the truth before the congregation, said Sikh leaders Jagjit Singh Gaba, Iqbal Singh Dhindsa, Gurmeet Singh Bittu, Trilochan Kaur Pracharak, Davinder Singh Raheja, Charanjeev Singh Lali, Maninderpal Singh Gumbar and Prof Balwinder Pal Singh. Tahli elected ZP Chairman, Saini vice-chief Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 19 The elections for the posts of Chairman and Vice-Chairman of Zila Parishad, Jalandhar, have been conducted under the supervision of the Deputy Commissioner. Darshan Singh Tahli was unanimously elected as Chairman of the Zila Parishad, while Amrik Singh Saini, an advocate, was elected as Vice-Chairman. Saini had won the ZP elections from the Cholang zone by a huge margin in December 2025 whereas Tahli was elected as ZP member from the Shankar zone of the Nakodar Assembly segment. Saini has been associated with the Aam Aadmi Party since 2014 and has been actively working for the party since then. Tahli joined the AAP after the 2022 Assembly elections, leaving the Congress where he had served as president of the District (Rural) Congress, Jalandhar. He had also held the post of Vice-Chairman of the Zila Parishad, Jalandhar, during the Congress regime. As per the notification dated May 12, the seat for the Chairman of the Zila Parishad, Jalandhar, was reserved for SC candidate, whereas the seat for the Vice-Chairman for general candidate. The Chairman and ViceChairman of the Zila Parishad are elected through voting by all Zila Parishad members and Kidnapped Hoshiarpur man’s body found in Karnal Parveen Arora Tribune News Service Karnal, May 19 The body of a man, found near Bastara village along National Highway-44 in Karnal district, has been identified as 28-year-old Manav, a resident of Hoshiarpur, who was allegedly kidnapped from Delhi shortly after dropping his family at the airport. His bullet-riddled body was recovered on May 16, but the victim remained unidentified initially. The breakthrough came late Monday evening when Manav’s mother arrived in Karnal and identified the body. Family members alleged that Manav had been facing issues with some agents who had facilitated his travel abroad, prompting the police to investigate whether the murder was linked to a financial dispute or personal enmity. The Karnal police are also coordinating with the Delhi Police as the alleged kidnapping took place in the national capital. The police suspect that Manav was abducted from Delhi before being taken to Karnal, where he was shot dead and his body dumped near bushes along the highway. The police are probing both kidnapping and murder angles while examining CCTV footage and forensic evidence to trace the accused. The SHO, Madhuban, said The woman shows the picture of her son Manav, who had been kidnapped from the Delhi airport and found murdered in Karnal’s Bastara village, in Hoshiarpur. the victim had recently returned from Malaysia along with his wife and children. On the night of May 15, Manav had gone to the Delhi airport to drop his family for Malaysia. After leaving the airport, he reportedly went missing under suspicious circumstances around 9:40 pm. The body was spotted by local residents, following which the police were informed. Officials from Madhuban police station reached the spot and shifted the body for post-mortem examination after registering a murder case. The police said the victim had sustained a gunshot injury on the head, indicating a planned killing. “We have handed over the body to the family after the post-mortem. For further investigation, we are in touch with the Delhi Police,” said the SHO. Police teams are examining CCTV footage from the Delhi airport, toll plazas and NH-44 to track the movement of the accused. Mobile phone records and other forensic evidence are also being analysed. No arrests had been made till the filing of this report. Chairpersons of the Block Samitis. The Aam Aadmi Party had secured 10 seats in the Zila Parishad elections in Jalandhar district, while the Congress won seven seats, the BSP three seats and Shiromani Akali Dal secured one seat. Besides this, the Aam Aadmi Party also enjoyed the required majority among the Chairpersons of the Block Samitis, due to which the election was completed unanimously and without any opposition. Cop killed in accident near Garhshankar Garhshankar, May 19 A senior police constable was killed in a road accident after the car he was driving collided head-on with a truck near village Golian on the Chandigarh-Hoshiarpur road late on Monday evening. Both vehicles were badly damaged in the mishap. The deceased has been identified as Pradeep Kumar (37) of Langeri village under Mahilpur police station. According to police officials, the accident took place around 9.30 pm when Pradeep Kumar was returning to his native village from Mohali in his car (PB-29N-1271). When he reached near village Golian, his car reportedly collided with a truck (HP93-1102) coming from the opposite direction. Police personnel rushed to the spot and shifted the seriously injured constable to the Civil Hospital, Garhshankar, where doctors declared him brought dead. The police said Pradeep Kumar was posted as a senior constable at NRI Police Station, Mohali, and was returning home after completing his duty. The police have taken both the damaged vehicles into custody for further investigation. ASI Jasbir Singh said that a case has been registered against the truck driver. After conducting the post-mortem examination, the body was handed over to the family members. — OC c m y b Fake votes detected in Tanda: Cong Hoshiarpur, May 19 The Punjab Congress on Tuesday alleged that bogus votes were made in Gardiwal and Tanda civic bodies in Hoshiarpur. District Congress president Daljit Singh Gilzian said over 40 bogus votes allegedly made by the ruling party have been detected. “Upon being brought to the notice of the Election Commission, these have been deleted”, he said. — OC Despite the nationwide call for strike, drug store owners in Jalandhar have decided to open the shops on Wednesday. TRIBUNE PHOTO: SARABJIT SINGH City chemists to keep shops open amid strike call today Nationwide strike against online sale of medicines Rishika Kriti Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 19 Chemist shops in Jalandhar will remain open on Wednesday despite the Punjab Chemist Association extending support to a nationwide strike against the online sale of medicines. The impact of the shutdown call in the city is expected to remain limited, with a majority of retail and wholesale medicine shops announcing to continue operations across various markets. Reportedly, Jalandhar district has over 2,500 retail chemists and more than 300 wholesale medicine dealers. While chemist bodies in several districts have announced complete closure of shops, retailers in Jalandhar are unlikely to fully suspend operations. Sanjay Sehgal, district president of the Jalandhar Retail Chemist Association, said, “The impact of the strike is unlikely to be severe in Jalandhar as the Dilkusha Market, the city’s largest wholesale medicine market, will largely remain functional on Wednesday, reducing the overall effect of the shutdown.” He added, “Nearly 250 to 300 wholesalers in the market are already engaged in online sale of medicines and offer heavy discounts. If the wholesale market remains open, retailers are also unlikely to shut their shops completely despite supporting the strike.” The strike call has been given by the All-India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) and is being supported by the Punjab Chemist Association. Chemists across the state have been asked to keep both retail and wholesale shops shut from 12 am Wednesday to 12 am Thursday. The protest is primarily aimed at opposing the online sale of medicines and deep discounts by e-pharmacy platforms, which chemists claim is hurting small local pharmacies that are unable to compete with aggressive low pricing. Chemist bodies have also raised concerns over the alleged sale of medicines online without strict prescription verification. They claim this could lead to misuse, selfmedication and circulation of fake or substandard medicines, posing a serious threat to public health. Lyallpur Khalsa College Technical Campus G.T ROAD, JALANDHAR ADMISSIONS 2026-27