03122024-LT-01.qxd 12/3/2024 12:48 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune 94 AACS TREATED OVER 35L PATIENTS IN PAST 2 YEARS JAI IS UPBEAT ABOUT HIS NEW FILM BADNAM Jai Randhhawa, angry Jatt from Je Jatt Vigarh Gya, is upbeat about his film Badnam, which is set for 2025 release. P4 A clinic in Khanna had logged maximum OPDs of 1,15,839 patients ever since its opening on August 15, 2022.P2 » SHABBIR REGALED AUDIENCE WITH GOLDEN HITS Audience were not only treated to songs from 80s and 90s, but also got a chance to listen to Shabbir Kumar. P4 » » FORECAST MODERATE FOG MAX 25°C | MIN 11°C YESTERDAY MAX 25°C | MIN 11°C SUNSET TUESDAY 5.22 PM SUNRISE WEDNESDAY 7:03 AM TUESDAY | 3 DECEMBER 2024 | LUDHIANA New int’l airport to take off within Damoria Bridge closed for vehicular traffic for 90 days three months:direct Air Force to expedite pending work Aviation Minister Defence Minister promises to Tribune News Service Nitin Jain Tribune News Service Ludhiana, December 2 The new international airport in Ludhiana will take off within three months with the launch of international and domestic flights from here, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu has said. At the same time, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has assured to direct the Indian Air Force (IAF) to expedite the ongoing pending work and complete it at the earliest. The development assumes significance as the new international airport at the Halwara airbase has been almost completed after missing at least 13 deadlines in the past three years. While Naidu assured the launch of flights from Ludhiana to Fatehgarh Sahib MP Dr Amar Singh, the assurance on the early completion of the IAF work was given by Rajnath Singh to Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora. Dr Singh, who is the twotime Congress parliamentarian, called on the Civil Aviation Minister in New Delhi and apprised him of the current status of the upcoming airport. He urged Naidu to issue directions to the min- New international airport in Ludhiana. istry functionaries to ensure the launch of international and domestic flights from Ludhiana immediately after the construction of the new airport was completed and handed over to the Airports Authority of India (AAI). “Given the sacrifice made by hundreds of farmers who gave their lands, keeping in view the urgent need for air connectivity for the industrial hub and creating a central airport in the state for catering to NRIs and locals, I requested the minister to start commercial domestic and international flights from the Halwara airport as soon as the construction of the terminal is completed,” Dr Singh told The Tribune, adding that Naidu had assured him that the new airport in Ludhiana would be made operational with the launch of flights within the next three months. Meanwhile, the MP Sanjeev Arora met the Defence Minister in New Delhi and urged him to expedite the pending work on the part of the IAF while apprising him that the civil terminal building of the new airport had already been completed. Arora apprised Singh about the current status of the ongoing relaying work of the airstrip by the IAF following , which the airport will be ready for operations. He opined that the new airport was crucial for enhancing operational capabilities of the airport and facilitating civil aviation activities. “On my request, the Defence Minister has instructed the officials concerned to speed up the ongoing pending work,” Arora disclosed, adding that the completion of the IAF work would ensure the launch of operations at the new airport, the work on which he had been pushing and reviewing on a regular basis. Earlier, the Rajya Sabha MP had also met the highlevel team sent by Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran, which had visited the upcoming airport site on his request, to explore possibilities of launching flights from Ludhiana after the facility becomes operational. Pertinently, the IAF has fixed December 31 as the deadline to complete the job, following which the Rs 5,822.12-lakh much-awaited and muchdelayed big ticket project would see the light of the day. While the integrated civil enclave and cargo terminal building, sub-station and toilet block at Air Force Station in Halwara, which is one of the oldest frontline airbases of the IAF close to Ludhiana, , had already come up, the allied civil works of the major civil aviation project have also been completed. With all pending nods having been procured, the work on all other components, which were stalled since long, has also been finished. Deputy Commissioner Jitendra Jorwal had recently stated that the civil construction work had already been completed and the IAF which , owns the airbase on which the airport had been built, had also finished 80 per cent work to widen link taxiways within the IAF campus, following which the airport would become operational. He said the IAF had assured to complete the pending work under their territory by December 31. The DC said once the IAF completed the work under its jurisdiction, the minor finishing work at the level of state government and the AAI would be done simultaneously. “We will make the civil airport terminal ready in all respects by December 15 and hand it over to the Centre by December 31, before which the IAF will also complete its task,” Jorwal had said. Ludhiana, December 2 City’s busiest railway under bridge (RUB), ‘Damoria Bridge’, has been closed on Monday for vehicular traffic. The underpass will remain close for 90 days due to the ongoing bridge work, which is part of the ambitious doubling project connecting the Ludhiana railway station to Mullanpur. Significant progress has been made in recent months, with the doubling work already completed in at least eight key crossing points within the city. With the closure of the underpass, commuters will have to take other detour. The underpass connects to old city areas and thousands of vehicles pass through it every day. Not only vehicular traffic but pedestrians also have to choose other way to reach their destinations. The development has also irked shopkeepers as they fear that closure of the bridge will affect their businesses and the footfall of customers will decline tremendously. They demanded that the railways, instead of completing the work in 90 days’ deadline should complete the work in minimum possible time so that traders might not suffer loses. ACP (Traffic) Jatin Bansal said the people should cooperate with the traffic police and use diversion points for the smooth movement of traffic. Traffic police personnel would also be deployed on both sides of the bridge to guide commuters. Further, to prevent any incident due to the ongoing construction activity, the construction firm was requested to provide men for deployment around the construction site. To keep the movement of traffic smooth, the traffic police have also issued a diversion plan. After Damoria bridge closed for three months, construction began on Monday. HIMANSHU MAHAJAN Manav Mander Tribune News Service Ludhiana, December 2 Burning of garbage goes unchecked in the city and on Sunday night, it occurred near the Municipal Corporation’s Zone A office situated near Mata Rani Chowk. Garbage was set on fire near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, which is installed near the office and the fire was so strong that the flex board installed near the place was also got burnt. Several complaints and petitions regarding the burning of garbage in the city are already pending with the National Green Tribunal (NGT). As per directions of the Supreme Court and the NGT, burning of waste is a punishable offence and action must be taken against polluters. The NGT has imposed a ban on burn- INDERJEET VERMA Garbage set afire near MC office ‘Kale Pani da Morcha’: Dyeing industry The garbage being burnt near MC's Zone A office on Sunday night. ing of waste in 2016 and there is a provision of imposing penalty of Rs 5,000 (minimum) and Rs 25,000 (maximum) on violators but these orders fail to be implemented properly. Swatantar Singh, a resident of the Daresi Ground area who was returning home, said the fire was so huge that even the flex board was burnt. “Usually beggars keep siting around the statue and they even sleep here during the night and I think, someone had burnt the garbage littered around,” he said. A nearby shopkeeper said it was a common practice here. “Some people have made the place their home and setting garbage on fire has become a routine affair. Even we have asked them not to set the garbage on fire as it can result in some accident but to no avail,” he said. Zonal Commissioner, Zone A, Chetan Bunger, said a few beggars often keep siting here all through the day. Since the place was located opposite a temple, devotees generally give them food and clothes due to which they have made it their permanent place. “They often indulge in such activities and many times, I have ordered to extinguish the fire. Since, they lit the fire at night, it went unnoticed. I will try to come up with a permanent solution to the problem,” he said. tells 25K workers to reach near CETPs Shivani Bhakoo Tribune News Service Ludhiana, December 2 Holding the dyeing industry mainly responsible for discharging pollutants into the Buddha Nullah, activists of ‘ Kale Pani da Morcha’, a campaign initiated to clean the Buddha Nullah by social organisations, had challenged the industry to block polluted water flow from their CETPs on Tuesday. The entire dyeing industry in support with the allied hosiery and textile industry have kept at least their 25,000 workers ready to safeguard their CETPs. Throughout the day, meetings of the industrialists were held on Tajpur Road and Bahadurke road to reach outside the Central Jail on Tuesday to stop the activists. Women gather near a CETP to support Kale Pani da Morcha campaign in Ludhiana. PHOTO: ASHWANI DHIMAN Chairman of the Punjab Dyers Association Ashok Makkar said: “The industry was in no mood to initiate fight with anyone but since the activists had threatened to plug the CETPs on December 3, we are left with no other option but to safeguard the CETPs, installed by putting hundreds of crores on them. Cops catch criminal after exchange of fire on Chandigarh road “The police have already deputed force but we are also putting tents, for our workers to reach and save the CETPs. We cannot sit idle and watch our CETPs blocked,” said Makkar and Bobby Jindal of the association. The dyeing industry said they were able to get about 1 lakh workers there but since the area was congested, about 25,000 workers were asked to reach there initially. Dairy industry, electroplating industry, medical waste, domestic waste, etc, were equally putting pollutants into the nullah but the government was not even bothered to look at that aspect and only the dyeing industry was held responsible for the entire mess. On the other hand, many farmer bodies have extended support to the ‘Kale Pani da Morcha’ for tomorrow’s call. At the same time, messages in WhatsApp groups are exchanged to “maintain calm and peace” by the activists. They said since the government had failed to clean the Buddha Nullah for decades, the campaign has started to provide relief to people suffering from diseases due to the contaminated water of the nullah. Three nabbed with heroin Tribune News Service Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, December 2 The Ludhiana police arrested a wanted criminal after an encounter on Sunday night on the Chandigarh road. The suspect suffered a bullet injury in his leg and was admitted to a hospital. Suspect wanted by police in four cases suffered bullet injury ADCP Amandeep Singh Brar, who reached the scene after getting information, said a CIA team, led by SI Gurpreet Singh was patrolling in Dhanansu village when they tried to stop a motorcycle rider coming from the link road ADCP Amandeep Brar addresses mediapersons in Ludhiana. and going towards the cycle valley main road. The suspect, identified as Gulab Singh of Haider village, near Koom Kalan, while ignoring the signal of the police personnel started firing at them. He fired two rounds. However, the officials did not suffer any bullet injury. The police team retali- ated in self-defence. The personnel fired two rounds in which the suspect was shot in his leg. One illegal .32 bore pistol with two empty cartridges and one motorcycle were seized from him. As the suspect fell down, the police officials caught him. Since the man suffered a bullet injury, he was taken to the hospital, the ADCP said, adding that a forensic team was also called on the spot for collecting technical evidences and to inspect the crime scene. So far, a FIR was registered and further investigation was launched. Brar said Gulab had a criminal past as he was facing four criminal cases of theft, snatching and liquor smuggling registered against him at Koom Kalan, Meharban and Jamalpur police stations in Ludhiana. In one of the cases of liquor smuggling, the suspect was also declared a proclaimed offender by court. Recently, he was involved in a kidnapping incident of a person from Shahkot district c m y b in Jalandhar and a case was registered against him. He was absconding in the case. Past incidents November 8, 2024: The police arrested Amit Kumar of the Tibba road, wanted in robbery and snatching cases, following an exchange of fire on Jassian Road. September 12, 2024: The Ludhiana police arrested a drug peddler, his brother and father after an exchange of fire in Mehmoodpura village on the Dhandran road. While the key accused’s brother was injured in the retaliatory firing by the police, a policeman sustained stab injury on the head. June 22, 2024: Two persons wanted in a case of attempt-to-murder were arrested after an exchange of fire in Ram Enclave of the Chuharpur area. One bullet hit the police vehicle. Both suspects suffered bullet injuries on their legs, following which they were apprehended. December 13, 2023: The Ludhiana police killed gangster Sukhdev Singh, alias Vicky, in a police encounter on the Kohara-Machhiwara road at Panjeta village. The gangster was facing 28 criminal cases. November 29, 2023: Two gangsters, Sanjeev Kumar and Shubham Gopi, wanted in the Sambhav Jain kidnapping case, were killed during an exchange of fire between them and the Ludhiana police on the Tibba bridge. Ludhiana, December 2 The Jagraon City police on Sunday arrested three persons and seized 50 gm of heroin from their possession. The police also seized the Hyundai i20 car of the miscreants, which was being used to smuggle drugs by them. The suspects were identified as Ravideep Singh, alias Ravi, of Rumi village, Amandeep Singh, alias Jassu, of Kamalpura and Karan, alias Nikku, of Rumi. Investigating officer subinspector Gursewak Singh said on Sunday during patrolling on the main GT Road, a car was seen parked near Kothe Ath Chak. Three persons sitting in the vehicle got panicked when the police team approached them. The trio were taken out of the car and their identification was confirmed. He added that when their car was searched, 50 gm of heroin was found in a polythene. All occupants were taken into custody and a case under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act was registered against them. Now, further investigation was launched to bust the entire drug supply line.