E-Paper
Punjabi varsity teachers continue protest on Day 2
As the Punjabi University Teachers’ Association (PUTA) members continued their protest against non-payment of salaries for the second consecutive day, the varsity
As the Punjabi University Teachers’ Association (PUTA) members continued their protest against non-payment of salaries for the second consecutive day, the varsity authorities released their salaries by Thursday evening.
The teachers, under the banner of PUTA, staged a protest outside the office of vice-chancellor Prof BS Ghuman for over two hours. The protest was against the delay on part of the varsity management in releasing monthly salaries of the employees.
PUTA secretary Gurnam Singh Virk said that instead of making stopgap arrangements every month, the university should come up with concrete solutions to deal with the financial crisis.
“The varsity should strongly put forward their case regarding their financial conditions before the state government and seek a special bailout package at the earliest,” Virk said.
He added that the teachers’ body has to sit on protest every month to get their monthly salaries released.
“This trend is not at all suitable for the academic atmosphere of the varsity where teachers need to protest for their genuine rights,” he said.
The financial crisis of the varsity has deepened over the years as it is facing difficulty in meeting the committed expenses including payment of monthly salaries and pensions to its employees every month. The total monthly salary budget of the university is pegged at ₹33 crore.
Kesar Singh Bhangu, a professor in the economics department, said the varsity’s cash strapped condition can be gauged from the fact that the expected expenditure of this year was calculated to be more than double of the total income expected.
“In its budgetary allocations for 2019-2020 financial year, the university had proposed a budget of ₹717 crore, against an income of ₹344 crore. The deficit was pegged at ₹373 crore,” he said.
He added that at present, the university has an overdraft of ₹132 crore, which is expected to touch ₹150 crore by the end of the financial year.
Meanwhile, varsity registrar professor Manjit Singh Nijjar said that the salaries were delayed due to delay in receiving the stipulated grant from the state government.
“We have disbursed salaries on Thursday evening. We are making every possible effort to meet our committed expenses on time,” Prof Nijjar said.
