E-Paper
State owes fund-starved Punjabi University ₹76 crore
Amid the fund crunch, the university has failed to release salaries and pensions to its 5,800-odd present and former staffers for the month of May
The Punjab government has failed to clear ₹76 crore dues owed to Punjabi University, Patiala, which is toiling hard to meet its committed expenses.
The pending dues include ₹46 crore related to postmatric scholarship for scheduled caste (SC) students, ₹21 crore for the varsity’s constituent colleges and ₹9 crore of the monthly grant.
Amid the fund crunch, the university has failed to release salaries and pensions to its 5,800-odd present and former staffers for the month of May.
Registrar Manjit Singh Nijjar says the university has again pressed upon social welfare and higher education departments for clearing the postmatric scholarship and constituent colleges funds at the earliest.
“The social welfare department has audited records of SC students a number of times, but still the funds have not been cleared. We can only request the government for early disbursal,” he says, adding that the university is hopeful of receiving the monthly grant of ₹9 crore by the end of this week.
The monthly salary budget of the university is pegged at ₹33 crore. However, the varsity’s fiscal health is not in a good shape. As per budgetary proposals for this fiscal, the varsity expects an income of ₹380 crore, while the expenditure is pegged at ₹676 crore, leaving a massive ₹296-crore deficit.
Meanwhile, the government has added to its miseries, as not a single penny of ₹46 crore funds under the postmatric scholarship scheme has been paid since 2015. This includes funds meant for its neighbourhood campuses and regional centres as well.
Earlier, the inordinate delay was due to faulty records sent by various departments and regional centres. Even as an audit cleared the discrepancies in 2018, the funds are still awaited.
Vice-chancellor BS Ghuman, on his part, says the university officials are working round the clock to arrange funds for monthly expenses.
Despite repeated attempts, minister for social justice, empowerment and minorities Sadhu Singh Dharamsot and Kirpa Shankar Saroj, additional chief secretary of the department, could not be reached for comment on postmatric scholarship scheme dues.
