02122024-ATR-01.qxd 12/1/2024 11:50 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY GO ABROAD WITH CLEAR AIMS, NOT FOR FALSE ASSURANCES INT’L DANCE & MUSIC FEST AT CHANDIGARH UNIVERSITY AMID SEPARATION RUMOURS, AISHWARYA FOCUSING ON WORK Pursuing better opportunities is fine but aspirants should not fall prey to unscrupulous agents: Residents. P2 Cultural troupes of Colombia, Iraq, Slovakia, India and Sri Lanka among other countries take part. P4 Actor Aishwarya Rai has dived straight back into her work amidst separation rumours with Abhishek Bachchan. P4 » » » MAX 24°C | MIN 10°C YESTERDAY MAX 24°C | MIN 10°C SUNSET MONDAY 5.26 PM SUNRISE TUESDAY 7.14 AM MONDAY | 2 DECEMBER 2024 | AMRITSAR MC plans to resume BRTS service, trial run shortly Narrow escape for Valtoha shopkeeper in firing incident Our Correspondent Tarn Taran, December 1 A shopkeeper of the border area village of Valtoha, who had not responded or paid extortion to a gangster who had fired at him in his shop here on Saturday. The shopkeeper, Baljinder Singh Babblu, had a narrow escape who hid himself in the shop. A team of the Valtoha police station led by SHO Sub-Inspector Charan Singh rushed to the spot and collected information regarding the incident. In his statement, Baljinder Singh told the police that he received a WhatsApp message on his mobile from some foreign number four days ago demanding an extortion of ~20 lakh which he overlooked. He said on Saturday, he was in his shop when three armed assailants, who were riding in a car, appeared in front of his shop who fired at him and fled from the spot in the same car. The police have registered a case under Sections 109, 308 (4), 111 (4), 125, 3 (5) 2 (1) of the BNS and Sections 25, 54, 59 of the Arms Act, said the SHO. Charanjit Singh Teja Tribune News Service Chaos prevails on the Mall Road in Amritsar on Sunday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR Illegal vendors continue to cause traffic chaos on busy Mall Road Manmeet Singh Gill Tribune News Service Amritsar, December 1 Despite the MC’s best efforts to crack a whip on the illegal weekly bazaars in the city, vendors continue to set up shops on the Mall Road every weekend, on the road stretch from Sant Singh Sukha Singh Chowk to Celebration Mall. The weekly bazaars cause significant traffic jams on the stretch on Sundays, leaving commuters frustrated. Earlier, vendors would set up shops on the footpaths, but for the last few weeks, now they have started occupying some portion of the road too. Besides, two-wheelers parked on the road in front of the stalls by the customers occupy the area meant for the movement of vehicular traffic. Expressing concerns, Harnam Singh, a resident, said, “Nobody has problem with people selling their goods, but a system should be in place so that commuters are not harassed.” Though the municipal corporation have taken action against such vendors on several occasions, weekly encroachments continue to rise. The residence of the Police Commissioner is also located on the opposite side of the same stretch, but authorities have failed to remove the bazaar and address the traffic congestion issue. Harjot Singh, a commuter, said, “Not even a single vehicle can pass when the bazaar is operational. It takes 10 minutes to pass the 200-metre stretch.” Residents said to resolve the issue, the authorities must work together to establish a system that allows vendors to sell their goods without causing a chaos on roads. They stated that the administration could designate specific areas for vendors to check the setting up of shops on roadsides. Amritsar, December 1 The Municipal Corporation is set to resume the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in the city, which has been off road since July 4, 2023. Initially, the Municipal Corporation will operate a limited number of buses on trial basis. Efforts are underway after a gap of one and a half years to restart the bus service that used to ply in the city. These buses would now be operated under the supervision of the Amritsar Municipal Corporation instead of Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Company (PMIDC). Municipal Commissioner Gulpreet Singh Aulakh stated that the decision to restart the motor bus service has been taken by the higher authorities and the trial run will commence shortly. Preparations are being made to bring the buses back into service after addressing minor errors. A number of buses are not in working condition as the fleet has been lying off road for more than a year. In the first phase, a few buses will operate on trial basis, with their num- 70-kg banned single use plastic seized from 20 shops Miscreants deface newly painted boundary wall of NRI’s school Tribune News Service Amritsar, December 1 With the police department, including NRI police, sitting on the FIRs registered against the land grabbers who attempted to grab the land of a Canadabased NRI, miscreants have defaced the newly painted boundary wall of the private school being run by Canadabased NRI Amandeep Singh. The same wall was demolished allegedly by land grabbers earlier last month and the victim had to rush to the local police for help. However, it was after the intervention of MLA Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh that the police acted and got the wall restored and arrested two workers. Ironically, neither the city police nor the NRI wing of Punjab Police took enough measures to nab the prime suspects, alleged Urvashi Sandhu, wife of Canada-based NRI Amandeep Singh Sandhu. “This is vandalism. They Amritsar, December 1 The Amritsar Municipal Corporation seized 70 kg of single use plastic from 20 shops and issued challans to the shop owners here on Saturday night. According to the guidelines of MC Commissioner Gulpreet Singh Aulakh, a team of the MC’s Health Department seized 70 kg of single use plastic from 20 shops of IDH market on Saturday night and issued challans to them. Under the leadership of MC Health Officer Dr Kiran Kumar, Chief Sanitary Inspector Vijay Gill, Sanitary Inspectors Sanjeev Arora and Anil Dogra and the team of the Health Department visited IDH market. When the team checked the shops, a huge amount of singleuse plastic envelopes were recovered from them. Dr Kumar said the government has banned these single-use envelopes two and a half years ago. Before this, the municipal corporation issued over 900 challans and recovered 1,550 kg of single-use plastic by conducting a campaign against single-use plastic. He said the municipal corporation collected a fine of around ~5.5 in lieu of challans. Today, when the campaign was started again in the IDH market, the team had an argument with shopkeepers. He said when the team recovered single-use plastic envelopes and started issuing challans, a war of words began between the shopkeepers and the MC team. Some people even said that they were unaware of any restriction on sanctions on sale of single-use plastic envelopes. He said these days people are liberally using social media and they should put in efforts to know more about the law banning the single use plastic. The defaced boundary wall of a private school in Amritsar. are destroying and damaging our property again and again and we are repairing it. On the other hand, the police are sitting on FIRs registered and are not taking action against the main accused. Despite the fact that two separate FIRs have been registered, miscreants dared again to vandalise and deface the wall of the school,” she alleged. The accused along with their goons barged into the school complex and damaged CCTV cameras and property. Even they demolished the boundary wall of the school’s ground. I fail to understand why the police are not taking appropriate action against the main accused, she said. They are perhaps waiting for some physical harm to us or there is some influential person who is backing the accused and the police are hesitating to take action against them. Some unscrupulous elements tried to grab the land in October and then in November. A case was registered by the NRI police station and then by the Chheharta police station in this connection. — TNS Municipal Commissioner Gulpreet Singh Aulakh has said the decision to restart the motor bus service has been taken by the higher authorities and the trial run will commence shortly. ber increasing gradually, stated MC officials. The meeting to discuss the resumption of service was attended by officials of Punjab Metro Bus Society, MC and other stakeholders. The Rs 600 crore Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) project was launched in 2016 by the then SAD-BJP government a few months before the assembly elections. It got an overwhelming response ini- tially but after the change in government, it was ignored by the then Congress government. Navjot Singh Sidhu relaunched it during his term as Minister for Local Bodies. Despite facing several challenges, the project continued until June 2023, when the contract of one of the firms, which operated the service, was terminated, resulting in the suspension of service. Around 1,000 employees associated with the project lost their jobs, and over 40,000 people, mainly students and working professionals, were deprived of the service. With the resumption of service, the residents of the city can once again hope to avail the facility of this convenient mode of transportation. No specific date has been announced yet but keeping the MC elections in view, it is expected that the service may resume next week. Shiromani Akali Dal (Azad) panel pays obeisance at Akal Takht Tribune News Service Amritsar, December 1 Before the nomination of the president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Azad) formed recently, a five-member committee of Sikhs from Haryana paid obeisance at Akal Takht and prayed for the prosperity of the newly formed unit. This five-member committee is comprised of Sukhwinder Singh Mandebar (Yamunanagar), Swaran Singh (Bunga Tibbi, Panchkula), Malkit Singh Panniwala (Sirsa), Swaran Singh Ratia (Fatehabad) and Umrao Singh Chhina (Kaithal). They reached the Golden Temple here today. Speaking in this regard, Sukhwinder Singh Mandebar said the Shiromani Akali Dal (Azad) was announced recently and the committee was constituted for nominating its president. He said the committee has been formed to solve the problems faced by Sikhs in Haryana and fighting reli- Members of a five-member committee of Sikhs from Haryana pay obeisance at Akal Takht in Amritsar. gious elections. He said the panel will field candidates for the elections to the Haryana Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee and the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee. “Within 15 days, the committee will meet Sikh organisations and discuss an appro- priate candidate who could raise the Sikh issues prominently with the government. Meanwhile, Mohakam Singh, a Sikh leader, and Manjit Singh Bhoma, Punjab Chairman of Dharma Prachar Committee of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara committee, and others honoured the visiting Sikh leaders. Birth anniversary of Swami Police conduct CASO in three city zones Dayanand Saraswati celebrated Tribune News Service Amritsar, December 1 Members of the Arya Samaj, Amritsar, celebrated the birth anniversary of Swami Dayanand Saraswati and organised the annual Gayatri Maha Yagya here on Sunday. Various local units of the Arya Samaj also attended the religious programme. Well-known Vedic scholar Vimlesh Bansal dwelled on the importance of Gayatri Mantra and its relevance in today’s life in achieving moksha. On the occasion, a Yagya was performed by Vedic preacher Pawan Tripathi. On the auspicious occasion, a handbook on facts and facets of the life of Members of the Arya Samaj during the Swami Dayanand Saraswati’s birth anniversay celebrations in Amritsar on Sunday. Swami Dayanand Saraswati penned by Ram Parkash Vinayak was also released by chief guest Vikas Soni, a Congress leader. A calendar was also released. The function was organised under the aegis of Arya Samaj president Dr Ashwarya Mehra and Arya Model School principal Dr Shruti Mahajan. — TNS c m y b Amritsar, December 1 In order to nab drug peddlers and criminal elements, the Amritsar Commissionerate Police carried out a cordon and search operation (CASO) in different parts of three police zones of the city on Sunday. Around 1,000 cops, including SWAT teams led by senior police officials including Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Alam Vijay Singh carried out the search operation in Maqboolpura, Mohkampura, Gate Hakima, Fateh Singh Colony, Sultanwind village, Anngarh, Housing Board Colony, Ranjit Avenue, Faizpura, Navi Aba- Cops during a cordon and search operation in Amritsar on Sunday. di, Mustafabad, Kappatgarh, Kale Ghanupur, Guru Teg Bahadar Nagar flats, Guru Ki Wadali, Bharariwal and Gujjarpura. Besides searching houses, the police checked vehicles and verified their ownership. Suspicious elements were also questioned. Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said the main aim was to identify and nail drug peddlers as well as instil a sense of fear among them. He appealed to people to cooperate with the police in order to maintain law and order in the holy city. He urged them to share information regarding drug traffickers active in their areas for immediate and effective action.