Our Correspondent

Nurpur, January 14

Mortal remains of Sepoy Deepak Sharma (38) were consigned to flames at his native Sthana village in Fatehpur sub-division this afternoon. The deceased was getting training under Naib Subedar of Army wing 19, Punjab unit, at Mamoon army cantonment.

As per information, on Monday morning, he suddenly fell unconscious while on duty. Later, he was rushed to Army hospital where he was declared dead.

He is survived by his two sons, wife and mother. He had visited his home last week and returned to duty two days back.

Mother Raj Kumari and wife Seema Devi were inconsolable when the mortal remains draped in Tricolor arrived at their home. The body was cremated with full honours. Fatehpur Naib Tehsildar laid a wreath on behalf of the state government. The soldier was accorded full military honours and his cousin lit the pyre.

With the aim to engage with schoolchildren, the Army organised a debate competition on the topic “Impact of social media on students” at Government Higher Secondary School, Jhullas. A total of eight students participated in the competition who displayed excellent understanding and knowledge of the topic and brought out important issues. Later, the winners were also awarded.

JKBOSE fixes date for fee submission

The Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE) has fixed the date for the private high/higher secondary schools to deposit fee after getting an affiliation for the next five years. The school education board has fixed March 31, for private institutes to deposit the fee at its concerned head/sub branch offices. It has also been made clear by BOSE that if the institutes fail to deposit the fee by March 31, they will be responsible for the consequences.

IIT-Jammu holds workshop

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Jammu, hosted an Academic writing workshop “Work-in-progress: Removing roadblocks from research writing” on its campus at Jagti Nagrota. The workshop was organised by the department of humanities and social sciences, which consisted of hands-on writing and reviewing sessions conducted by Dr Anannya Dasgupta and Sameer Thomas from the Centre for Writing and Pedagogy, Krea University, Andhra Pradesh.Resource persons introduced concepts like claims, evidence and annotated bibliography, along with the structure of writing. Different genres of research writing focusing on long-form journalism and academic articles were discussed in detail.

Our Correspondent

Jammu, January 14

The Tiger Division on Tuesday commemorated the Fourth Tri-Services “Veterans Day” by paying homage to martyrs at Balidan Stambh, Jammu.

The veterans were honoured at Balidhan Stambh, Jammu, which commenced with the wreath-laying by the chief guest, Farooq Khan, Adviser to the Lt-Governor.

Farooq Khan appreciated the spirit of national unity, dedication and sacrifice exhibited by veterans. He insisted that there was requirement by citizens and NGOs to keep in touch with veterans and families of martyrs and draw lessons from their rich experience.

Students will get motivation listening to their stories of valour and sacrifice. He said the administration would give priority and support to resolve problems being faced by the families of martyrs.

The Sabre Brigade of Rising Star Corps organised Veterans Day at Ratnuchak Military Station, wherein, a large numbers of veterans and widows were in attendance. The event was organised as part of the Army’s efforts to assist its veterans in all spheres of post-retirement life. The Army also celebrates Veterans Day at Reasi and Rajouri and during this event, copies of guidelines on various welfare initiatives by the government, were disseminated to all the ex-servicemen.

Our Correspondent
Hoshiarpur, January 14

Arrested for stealing two INSAS rifles and cartridges from the Army Training Centre, Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh, on December 10 last year, Army deserter Harpreet Singh escaped from the Civil Hospital, Hoshiarpur, this morning by dodging cops.

Harpreet Singh was lodged in the Central Jail, Hoshiarpur. He was admitted to the Civil Hospital after his health deteriorated. At around 4 am today morning, he went to bathroom accompanied by a home guard jawan, but Harpreet pushed him aside and fled. Two police personnel on duty tried to chase him, but to no avail.

Last month, Harpreet, along with his partner Jagtar Singh Jagga, was arrested by the Tanda police. Two INSAS rifles, three magazines and 20 live cartridges were recovered from the two.

Harpreet Singh was recruited into the Army two years ago. He took training from the Army Training Centre in Pachmarhi.

Vikram Singh, in charge of the Model Town police station, said Harpreet’s father Harbans Singh, a resident of Miani village, and five police personnel — sub-inspectors Jagtar Singh, Hardeep Singh, Baldev Dutt, Bansi Lal and head constable Davinder Kumar had been booked under Sections 223, 224 and 120-B of the IPC.

DSP, City, Jagdish Raj Attri said, “Out of the five police personnel on duty, only two were present at the time of the incident and the three were absent.

A case has been registered against the all five. Departmental action will be initiated against those absent. Raids are being conducted to nab the accused.”

Anirudh Gupta
Ferozepur, January 14

A massive search operation was launched by security agencies following the sighting of “drones” at Tendiwala village near border outpost Shameke in this sector last night. Sources claimed that the drones were sighted twice around 8.48 pm yesterday and later around 11 pm in the same area.

They said BSF jawans belonging to the 136 Battalion opened fire at the flying objects to bring them down. Later, a joint search operation by the BSF and the Punjab Police was carried out, which continued till late this evening, but nothing substantial was found.

As per information, around 150 Punjab Police personnel, led by Baljeet Singh Sidhu, SP (Operations), along with BSF jawans searched the entire area along Tendiwala village.

Ferozepur SSP Vivek Sheel Soni also visited the spot and conducted a tour of various villages along the border to take stock of the situation. He said the police had received information regarding the sighting of drone-like objects following which the search was carried out to rule out any misadventure from across the border. “We have asked the villagers to report if they found something suspicious,” he said.

BSF DIG Sandeep Chanan said though some flying objects were seen, it could not be ascertained whether they were drones or something else. He confirmed that the troops fired some rounds towards the objects and the search operation was still on.

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 14

Security agencies don’t have more than a few minutes to intercept drones being frequently used by narco-terror gangs to smuggle drugs or weapons in Punjab.

The two drones recovered from a gang of narcotics smugglers, including an Army jawan, recently were sophisticated DJI Inspire 2 and DJI Matrice quadcopters, which are known for their fast speed (90 kmph) and quiet operation. These drones attain this speed within seconds of their launch.

Rahul Chauhan from Ambala, Naik with Army, was caught along with two Amritsar residents and smugglers Dharminder Singh and Balkar Singh on Friday. The police have arrested four others also, but the alleged kingpin Ajay Pal, is absconding.

The Inspire model, available online for around Rs 3 lakh per piece, is a Chinese manufactured product which is better used by filmmakers in Hollywood and elsewhere due to its excellent video camera and still photography results.

Its use for fetching drugs from across the border by Punjab smugglers has thrown up a new challenge for the security forces. The battery of Inspire drones allows around 27-minute airtime during which these can fly up to 7 km. The Matrice model has an airtime of 35-38 minutes. While DJI Inspire drone can carry a payload of up to 5 kg, the Matrice model can carry 7-9 kg payload.

These drones are fitted with intelligent return software that allows them to return to the base even when the contact with them is lost.

According to police officials, the payload is usually made to hang from the drone using a string. This obviates the need to land the drone for delivering a payload, thus considerably reducing the risk of a crash or seizure.

Sources said one drone sortie carrying 5 kg heroin can fetch anything between Rs 5 crore to Rs 25 crore for smugglers in local and international market, respectively. The police and BSF look forward to acquiring equipment developed by Israel to check such sorties. Till then, interception depends on manual surveillance as drones being low fliers are not caught by radars.

Jaipur, January 14

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh today said military veterans inspired the government to create the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS).

“The veterans are the ones who provided inspiration for this,” he told ex-servicemen at an event here. The event was also attended by the first Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and Army Chief Gen MM Naravane. Creating the CDS post was much needed and when he became the Defence Minister and made a suggestion in that regard in 2018, the PM made a declaration to that effect during his Independence Day speech, Rajnath said. — O

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 14

In a major development, India is set to induct the BrahMos missile-equipped Sukhoi 30-MKI fighter jets at Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu.

The formal induction will be done next week under the re-raised the 222 Squadron — The Tigersharks — of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The Russian-origin Sukhoi’s will be mandated for a maritime role. In lay parlance, the jets can be used for sea strikes using the BrahMos missile, sources said. So far, the IAF had been using the Jaguar for a sea-role and also in the past the MiG-27 was used. The range of the Sukhoi is far greater and is capable of carrying the air-version of the BrahMos which weighs about 2.5 tonnes.

The IAF will have the only air-launched supersonic weapon of its kind in the world that can be fired from an air platform at a target at sea.

The BrahMos has a minimum range of 290 km. The Sukhoi 30 MKI, has a flight radius of some 1,000 km extendable by mid-air refuelling, hence allowing a strike at target far-off at sea.

The IAF’s capability to fire the supersonic cruise missile from the Sukhoi 30-MKI, will allow pilots to stay away from the reach of enemy missiles.

On December 17, the IAF had carried out the third successful firing a BrahMos missile from the Sukhoi-30 MKI, completing the integration of the supersonic missile with the fighter jet.

The test was conducted in ‘user configuration’ meaning it was in a configuration as it would be used by the IAF in a real-time scenario.