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Looking for bailout package Punjabi University gets 6 per cent annual grant increase, girls' hostel - Times of India

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Looking for bailout package Punjabi University gets 6 per cent annual grant increase, girls' hostel - Times of India

PATIALA: Punjabi University Patiala has been demanding a bailout package from the state government from a long time to get out from the financial crisis however it could get only 6 per cent hike in the annual grant and Rs 15 crores for a hostel for in the Punjab budget. The authorities and faculty of University has expressed sorrow over it.

The university authorities claimed they would request again the state government to provide a one-time package to come out of the fiscal crisis. The demand for girls’ hostel was also pending for a long time as eight hostels for girl students were insufficient to cater to the strength of girls. In almost every room four or five girls have been accommodated against the capacity of two. The strength of girl students counts more than 65 per cent in the university main campus.

Manjit Singh Nijjar, Registrar Punjabi University said, “We are getting Rs 100 crores approx. an annual grant from Punjab government and the 6 per cent increase in the grant is not sufficient. Last year the government gave Rs 50 crores grant but this time it is only Rs 6 crores approx. in the form of an annual grant. Each year, the university is landing into a deeper fiscal crisis and the fiscal budget has crossed Rs 300 crores following which we demanded a bailout package from the state government. We will again request the government to help out the university come out of the crisis. Each year, the university is giving a 3 per cent annual hike in salaries to its all the employees and 6 per cent hike in the DA which means we are spending on 10 per cent annual hike. The monthly grant from the state government is Rs 8.64 crores approx. while the university’s expenditure on salaries is Rs 30 crores per month. We are managing by taking loans or from university’s income through various sources including fees”

Budget not in favour of higher-education, farmers

Professor of economics, Punjabi University Patiala, Kesar Singh Bhangoo, said, “The state government had reduced its expenditure and this will have a negative impact in totality. This year’s budget is not farmer oriented and there was a need to focus on the procurement of diversified crops instead of keeping a figure or budget for diversification. Last year the state government allocated Rs 3000 crores for crop loan waiver but this year it has declined to Rs 2000 crores of which 520 crores have been kept for agricultural labourers and Rs 1480 crores.” He added that this budget was not in favour of higher education and importantly no step was taken to save the state-run Punjabi University from the financial crisis that has been demanding bailout package from a long time.”

Dr Pankaj Mohindru, Human Rights Chairman of Punjab Congress who demanded Rs 500 crore package earlier also from his party to bail out the university from financial crunch said that the university did not get any special grant in this budget.

“Higher education sector is ignored. The Punjab Budget dashed all the hopes of the staff working in Punjabi University, neighbour-hood campuses and constituent colleges situated in all most all of the Malwa belt. The Punjab government increased the outlays for health and education sectors to Rs 4675 crore but there was no specific mention of the budget allocated to higher education sector whereas Haryana government set aside Rs 2936 crore for higher education which is whopping 41.39% increase over the previous year. Punjabi University is the second university in the world to be named after a language, the first being Hebrew University of Israel. The University is now not even able to pay the monthly salaries to its employees in-time and this has adversely affected the morale of the faculty and subtly of their students”, added Mohindru, a Professor in Punjabi University and an expert in the field of Human Resource Management and Artificial Intelligence.

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