Jalandhar, November 27
Punjab government would provide funds to the Bhogpur Cooperative Sugar Mill for installing state-of-the-art machinery. The over 50-year-old mill would also increase its crushing capacity, said MLA Sarabjit Singh Makkar here today.

He was addressing the farmers at the beginning of the crushing season on the mill premises. Makkar said he had been assured by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal that the mill would be kept operational and its crushing capacity would be increased. Cooperation minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh too had agreed to do the needful in this context, he added.

The Chief Minister has said that money for the purpose would be provided in the coming days, he added. Cane commissioner M S Sidhu said more farmers should go in for cane cultivation even though sugar prices had taken a tumble. Many mills were running of half their capacity since farmers had given up on growing cane, he added.

MD V K Bhalla said cane is a cash crop and the government was willing to pay the farmers on the spot. That was also the only way to keep the mills running profitably, he said.

Sugarfed chairman Pritam Singh observed that crushing alone would not add to the revenues of the mills in the state.

The need of the hour was to go in for power generation, alcohol production and ethanol plants in the mills. This was the reason why mills in other states were prospering, he added.

Mill chairman Banta Singh Buttar said the farmers should clean their produce before bringing it to the mill. From this season the farmers would be paid on the spot, he said.

The inaugural was preceded by the bhog of an akhand path and kirtan. 

Jalandhar, November 27
The trap laid by the forests department to catch a panther which injured a resident of Pholriwal on Sunday so far proved futile as it escaped even after entering the cage fixed at the village on Monday night.

Meanwhile, the residents of Pholriwal and surrounding Munpur and Alipur villages are still panic-stricken as the panther could not be caught even after 72 hours of its sighting and deployment of several forest teams along with police personnel.

Talking to The Tribune, forest ranger Davinder Singh said the panther had entered the cage on Monday night but probably suspecting some danger it came out of the cage in no time.Denying that the panther had eaten the bait placed in the cage and managed to escape as the shutter of the cage could not close, he said the bait might have been eaten by dogs.

DFO Satnam Singh said, “Sometimes the automatic cage does not work, but we are leaving no stone unturned to catch the panther.” The DFO admitted that the department did not have the infrastructure required to catch the panther alive.

Meanwhile, DC Ajit Singh Pannu and DFO had written separately to Chandigarh-based chief wildlife warden M.P. Rai to get permission to kill the panther, but the district administration was still awaiting the reply, said the forest ranger. Panther is an endangered species and comes under schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, he said.

The forest ranger said another cage had been brought from Hoshiarpur. Besides, three tranquiliser guns, including one from Chattbir zoo and another from a local veterinary doctor, were provided to the teams to catch the panther.

The panther was not sighted during the entire day today. The forest department teams and police personnel kept on waiting for the panther to come out of its possible hideout in a heap of straw near Pholriwal village.

The DC and SSP Arpit Shukla visited the village yesterday and today to take stock of the operation to catch the panther.Meanwhile, Alipur village sarpanch Ranbhir Singh accused that the district administration had failed to catch the panther. Lakhwinder of the same village said the failure of the administration in catching the man-eater panther had shown how insensitive the authorities were towards saving lives of the common man.

Nawanshahr, November 27
Though the technical education and industrial training department has started the admission process in various courses to implement the prestigious project of upgradation of ITIs into centre of excellence (CoEs) the funds are still to be released for ensuring renovation of infrastructural facilities, equipment and faculty for imparting specialised training.

The technical education and industrial training department issued admission notices in the leading newspapers on November 15 for as many as eight CoEs but the last date of submitting applications was November 22 and classes are scheduled to start from November 30.

The seats for the new courses are 115 in each CoE, but due to lack of awareness among the masses and less time provided by the department, the number of applications received for the newly established CoEs is less than the available seats. As per the available information, the number of applications for seeking admission in different courses are - 16 (Phagwara), 80 (Moga), 89 (Samrala), 100 (Sunam), 76 (Nawanshahr), 91 (Bathinda), 105 (Pathankot) and 85 (Kheowali). Moreover, though the classes are scheduled to start from November 30, the funds have not been released for providing infrastructural facilities.

People want another counseling session should be held for filling the vacant seats in the new courses in the newly established CoEs and funds should immediately be released for renovating the existing infrastructure in the ITIs and latest equipment as per the requirements of the course.

Besides, the funds should also be made available for the Institute Management Committees (IMCs) for making up for the shortage of the staff. It is worthwhile to mention here that the ITIs are being converted into CoEs as per the requirements of the industry of the area and IMCs comprising members of the local industry and the state government have been constituted to ensure involvement in designing and implementing the scheme as per the requirement of the industry.

But, without timely release of appropriate funds, the IMCs would not be able to translate the prestigious project for alleviation of unemployment as well as making up the shortage of skilled workforce for the industry, into reality.

Jalandhar, November 27
Former chief parliamentary secretary Gurbinder Singh Atwal has alleged that SAD-BJP workers in connivance with the police had forcibly detained four directors of the Talwan Agriculture Cooperative Society and prevented them from casting their vote leading to the election of the SAD candidate as chairman.

Presenting the four directors before mediapersons here this noon, he said the voting was to be held yesterday and certain Akalis, with the help of the police and armed anti -social elements of the area, intercepted the vehicle in which they were travelling and prevented them from reaching the society premises.

As this was going on, the four Akali members elected one amongst them as the chairman of the society. The election was invalid since the constitution of the society stipulated that the election could not be held without the presence of a majority of the directors, he pointed out.

Kapurthala, November 27
An indebted man of Jalandhar with his two accomplices killed a money-lender from whom he had taken a loan of Rs 10,000.

According to SSP Kapurthala Rakesh Aggarwal, Jagdeep Singh alias Jaggi of Basti Bawa Khel along with Raman Malhotra alias Romi and Harjit Singh of Basti Danishmanda hatched a conspiracy to murder Rajesh Kumar of New Jawala Nagar.

Rajesh's was found dead near Sandhu Chatha road in Kala Sanghia, falling under Sadar police station in Kapurthala on Sunday. The SSP said the police succeeded in cracking the murder case with the help of some documents lying near the body.

During the investigations, it was revealed that Rajesh was pressing Jagdeep to repay the loan.

So, the latter decided to eliminate him. He along with the two accused first took Rajesh to a lonely spot on Kala Sanghia road where they all had drinks.

The trio then killed Rajesh with some sharp-edged weapon. Police have recovered the weapon used in the crime and arrested the accused after raiding their houses, said the SSP. A case has been registered. 

Hoshiarpur, November 27
A jhuggi was gutted at Chandigarh colony, Tanda in the wee hours of Tuesday. According to the police sources, Sajan Ram, along with his wife Rami, had gone to meet his relatives when fire suddenly broke out in his Jhuggi at about 3:30 am. The fire was noticed by the people residing in the adjoining jhuggies who extinguished the fire with the help of water and sand and saved the adjoining jhuggies.

All the house hold articles including clothes, quilts, television, tape deck and utensils were reduced to ashes. The estimated loss is stated to be about Rs 20,000. The cause of fire is yet to be known.