Two women fall prey to snatchers
Amritsar, August 5
Another pilgrim became a victim of snatchers. The incident happened near the Kotwali police station.

Thieves steal Rs 2.5 lakh from car
Amritsar, August 5
Two youths robbed an accountant of Sikka gas agency, owned by former councillor and BJP leader Anuj Sikka.

Amritsar, August 5
A man was allegedly beaten to death while his son was injured following a dispute in the Lopoke area here today. The deceased was identified as Joginder Singh of Lopoke village.

The police has booked 18 persons under Sections 302 of the IPC and relevant sections under the SC/ST Act.

Those booked include Darshan Singh, Baga, Jora, Fatta, Sarbjeet Singh and Bachitar Singh besides 12 unidentified persons. No arrest has been made so far.

Earlier, there were rumours that Joginder was killed in the police custody. But the police probe found that he died due to blunt injuries which he sustained during the clash between two parties.

It is learnt that the attackers had accused Joginder’s son Kinder Singh of stealing an LPG cylinder which enraged the Joginder’s family.

Jasdeep Singh, SP (D), Amritsar rural police district, said when they approached the opposite group, a clash occurred between the two parties.

Joginder and his son Kinder were overpowered by the accused. Both sustained blunt weapon injuries in the incident.

He said when the police received the information they intervened in the matter and brought the two parties to the police station where the condition of Joginder Singh deteriorated. He was immediately rushed to a hospital where he died after two hours.

Balkar Singh, SHO Lopoke police station, said no arrest has been made as the accused has absconded since the registration of a case. He said a manhunt has been launched to nab the culprits.

Refuting the allegations regarding Joginder’s death in the police custody, SSP Preet Paul Singh Virk said statements of family cleared that Joginder died due to internal injuries which he sustained during the clash with the opposite group.

“In fact we were ready to take action against the police officials concerned. But senior police officials, headed by Jasdeep Singh, found the charges baseless. Kinder Singh in his statement to the police said his father was brutally beaten up by the accused which was main cause of his death,” said the SSP.

Amritsar, August 5
The sewage overflow in front of the Jallianwala Bagh Memorial Civil Hospital has led to water-logging causing difficulties for patients and their attendants.

The dirty water is accumulated in front of the rear entrance, where most of the medical stores are located. Thus, people are finding it difficult in reaching these stores and purchase medicines and other products.

A visitor, Baljit Singh said, “People have to wade through the dirty water in order to cross the road. The situation is persistent for the past few days. And it needs immediate attention.” The problem has arisen because of the choking of sewerage pipes alongside the outer wall of the hospital.

Another resident, Vikram Singh said, “The water-logging is common thing here.” He said considering the public inconvenience, the problem should be solved at the earliest.

The shopkeepers too said water-logging is not a new problematic issue here. “Whenever the pipes get choked, water gets accumulated here as it is a low lying area,” said a shopkeeper.

Senior Medical Officer Balbir Singh Dhillon said, “We have brought the problem to the notice of the Municipal Corporation. The officials have assured us to send their men to rectify the problem.”

We have brought the problem to the notice of the Municipal Corporation. The officials have assured us to send their men to rectify the problem. — Balbir Singh Dhillon, Senior Medical Officer, civil hospital

Amritsar, August 5
Enjoying money and muscle power, liquor vendors are resorting to illegal trade practices and violence in order to intimidate rival groups and their associates.

In order to minimise competition, vendors are allegedly abducting, thrashing and even resorting to firing at their opposite groups creating a serious law and order problem.

Sometimes, musclemen of these liquor contractors along with excise department officials enter the marriage palaces and disrupt the celebrations in case they find liquor of other groups being used in their areas.

Recent incidents revealed that whenever these liquor dealers suspect that a person was selling liquor, he along with their musclemen enter their house forcibly and thrash them.

In a recent incident, Amarjot Singh, a resident of Teli Mohalla Nive Tung, alleged that on July 19, 24 persons headed by their owners, identified as Dyal, Aery, Bheem, Shiv Chander Chawla, barged into his house while suspecting him to be a liquor dealer.

He said the accused fired a shot at him with an intention to murder him.

“While fleeing, they fired several shots in the air,” he added.

Amajot told the police that the accused took him to be a liquor dealer and wanted to search his house.

But when he objected, they challenged and attacked him. A complaint was lodged with the police in this regard but no arrest could be made so far.

In a similar incident on June 21, about 20 persons, headed by Sanjiv Kumar, Gurwinder Singh, Harwinder Singh, Varinderpal and several unidentified persons, kidnapped Ravinder Kumar and his brother Manmohan Singh of Pishori Nagar and brutally thrashed them while claiming that they deal in liquor trade.

Ravinder Kumar told the Chheharta police that the accused bundled them in their vehicle from near Maya theatre and took them to a residential complex located on the Maqbool road.

He alleged that the attackers asked us to give Rs 3 lakh and when they refused, they were brutally beaten up.

He said they were released after the family gave Rs 50,000 to them.

Interestingly, the case was registered against the accused a month after the incident.

No arrest has been made so far.

In such incidents, owners of liquor groups do not come forward but use their musclemen to attack suspected persons. Though cases have been slapped against the accused in several incidents, no arrest was possible as the accused had been on the run. The police is doing its utmost to curb such instances.
— Amrik Singh Pawar, ADCP

Amritsar, August 5
Another pilgrim became a victim of snatchers. The incident happened near the Kotwali police station.

Mamta Bansal, a resident of Shree Nagar Colony, Delhi, was going to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple along with her husband on a rickshaw in the morning when two motorcycle-borne youths snatched her bag near Bharwan Da Dhaba.

She had gold jewellery, Rs 10,000, a mobile phone and important documents in the purse. The Kotwali police has registered a case under Section 382 of the IPC in this connection. No arrest has been made so far.

In another incident, an unidentified suspect barged into the residence of an Army jawan and looted gold earrings and a mobile phone from his wife.

The victim, identified as Maheshwari, who originally belonged to Odisha, was alone at the house at the time of the incident. Her husband Raja Rau had gone to his duty. The couple lived in a rented accommodation in Nikka Singh Colony near Putlighar here.

She said the unidentified youth with shorn hair asked for her husband and she told him that he had gone to duty. As she returned back to her house, the accused forcibly entered and tried to snatch her mangalsutra. But as he failed to snatch mangalsutra, he snatched her earrings and the mobile phone and fled away.

A case under Section 452 and 382 of the IPC has been registered in this regard.

Amritsar, August 5
Two youths robbed an accountant of Sikka gas agency, owned by former councillor and BJP leader Anuj Sikka.

The unidentified thieves told the accountant, Manohar Lal Khanna, that fuel is leaking from his car. When he alighted from the vehicle to check it out, the robbers decamped with a bag containing Rs 2.5 lakh which was kept in the back seat of the car.

Nirmal Sikka, mother of the BJP leader, had given Rs 2.5 lakh to Khanna for some work. When he reached the agency, an unidentified youth came and told him about fuel leakage. Khanna also enquired from an employee of the gas agency who was standing outside the office about it who confirmed the leakage as some amount of oil had spread on the ground.

Anuj Sikka said when Khanna came out of the vehicle and opened the bonet of the car to check the leakage, the suspect took out the bag and ran away. The whole incident was captured in the CCTV

footage installed outside the gas agency besides the neighbouring Celebration Mall. “The CCTV footage revealed that the accused kept the bag in a police picket located just opposite to the Celebration Mall from where another youth who came on a motorcycle picked it up and fled away,” said Sikka.

However, both the CCTV footages aren’t clear to identify the accused.

Harbans Singh, the investigating officer, said the Rambagh police has lodged a complaint under Section 454 and 380 of the IPC in this connection. No arrest has been made so far.

Amritsar, August 5
With the garbage collection system not functioning properly after the withdrawal of operations by Antony Waste Handling Cell Private Ltd, the MC employees or residents have started to burn the refuse in the bins placed in their localities.

Though the Municipal Corporation has stepped in to do the job, its scant infrastructure has failed to live up to the expectations. The MC has even hired trolleys from private companies for the purpose, but the crisis is far from over.

On Sunday, a large bin filled with garbage was set on fire near the Guru Nanak Dev Hospital. It is not clear who set the garbage afire.

Residents claimed that MC men did it so that they don’t have to transport the garbage to the designated dumping ground.

Some said even residents could have taken the step as the garbage was not lifted for the past over a week.

Residents living in posh area though have engaged private hands to collect garbage, but these men too dump the garbage in the bins kept in the localities.

Amritsar, August 5
Acting on a complaint filed by former Social Welfare Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla, the Punjab Pollution Control Board has asked the Amritsar Municipal Corporation to work on the modalities to shift the crematorium located near the Durgiana Mandir complex from its present location. Earlier, Chawla had raised objections saying that the crematorium, located near a residential area, is a source of hazardous gases and pollution.

“A few months back, a team of the PPCB had also found traces of harmful gases near the crematorium. I have written to the MC Commissioner as well as the Deputy Commissioner to get this crematorium shifted to city outskirts,” she said.

About a year ago, the PPCB had endorsed the move of NGO Punjab Pollution Control Committee which under the tutelage of the then Deputy Commissioner KS Pannu had arranged to install eco-friendly LPG-run crematorium here. It is learnt that due to lukewarm response to the new methodology, the authorities went back to the traditional way of cremation. KS Pannu, who later took over as chairperson of the PPCB, even got introduced special modifications in the unit to suit Hindu rituals, but residents still preferred the old system to eco-friendly move.

We had received a complaint from the former minister over the location of the crematorium. We have written to the Commissioner MC to deliberate over the issue. The PPCB, though endorses the LPG-run cremation process, yet the matter of shifting the crematorium was for the local authorities to see.

— Dr Charanjit Singh Nabha, Deputy Director, PPCB

Amritsar, August 5
The state government may have increased the fine for traffic violations, but it has not enhanced the infrastructure to check violations.

Some residents feel the traffic policemen take advantage of the hike in penalties as an opportunity to make more money. The situation has not changed much on the ground as the violations continue unabated.

In the absence of proper monitoring, violations such as driving without helmets, jumping the traffic lights, triple riding etc are a common sight. Traffic policemen cannot alert their colleagues about such violators as they do not have wireless sets.

Also missing are alcometers to check drunken driving and CCTV cameras at key points. As a result, the violators go scot-free in the absence of any proof.

Another glaring lapse is the faulty number plates. No drive has ever been launched to challan owners of such vehicles. Number plates with digits reduced to small sizes and motifs and stickers in the middle are commonly spotted in the city. They escape the eyes of the traffic police as it is not easy to note down the number of the vehicle.

Taking rules for a ride, overloaded auto-rickshaws, buses and trucks continue to put lives of schoolchildren and residents at risk. Despite the Punjab and Haryana High Court coming down heavily on overloaded auto-rickshaws, especially the ones ferrying schoolchildren, the practice continues unabated.

Around 9,000 vehicles enter the city from neighbouring states every day. This additional traffic flow is of those pilgrims who visit the Golden Temple daily. Despite having scant staff and resources, we do our best to manage the situation. Still we will be more strict in days to come.

— Karanbir Singh, ACP (Traffic)