Facing crunch, Jawaharlal Nehru University looks to monetise assets

New Delhi, August 19

Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has admitted that it is facing severe financial crunch and in order to meet the rising costs without increasing the fees, it has planned to redevelop its two properties in public-private partnership.

Gomti Guest House and a building at 35 Feroz Shah Road, the two properties owned by the JNU, are to be monetised by the university.

At present, Gomti Guest House is being used to host official guests of the university. Since the rent at the guest house is also free, the university wants to run it on a public-private partnership model so that it can be a regular source of income.

The university wants to make a multi-storey building at its Feroz Shah property from where it can rent its space for seminar halls and auditoriums. “Over the years students, teachers and staff have increased on the campus. Students in JNU pay a maximum fee of Rs 20 monthly till date,” the university said in a statement.

JNU said though the Centre had agreed to its demands by increasing funds, it was still unable to meet the increasing costs related to infrastructure, books, online sources and softwares required for research. JNU’s Vice-Chancellor Santishree D Pandit said the university should get an institute of eminence tag after it secured second position in NIRF ranking. — TNS