IKGPTU staff against govt decision to use varsity funds
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, December 4
In a joint general body meeting held here on Thursday, teaching and non-teaching employees of IK Gujral Punjab Technical University (IKGPTU) decided that they would protest against the decision of the state government to withdraw funds from the varsity for various government projects.
Members of the PTU Non-Teaching Employees Association in a press release issued on Thursday said, “The Punjab Government has asked about Rs105 crore from IKGPTU for establishment of 19 ITIs in the state (ITIs fall under the purview of Punjab Board of Technical Education and Industrial Training). The government through its Industries Department has asked the IKGPTU to set aside Rs100 crore to establish a start-up fund. An amount of Rs100 crore is being used for establishment of an incubation hub through TATA Technologies Limited. The state government has also asked to pay 50 per cent expenditure incurred on various government job fairs being held under the Ghar Ghar Rojgar Yojana held in different areas of Punjab.”
They further wrote, “Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi is establishing Skill-cum-Vocational University in his constituency at Chamkaur Sahib. The IKGPTU has been asked to pay Rs15 crore for the purchase of 42 acre land in Shri Chamkaur Sahib. A part of that for the construction of buildings in phase-I, the IKGPTU has been asked to pay Rs114 crore. Since Channi is also holding the charge of Tourism and Cultural Affairs Ministry, he had pressed upon IKGPTU to pay Rs88 lakh for conducting a state-level programme for celebrating 550th Parkash Purb of Guru Nanak Dev.”
Association leaders Dinesh Kumar and Pawan Khichy said, “Similarly in an another letter written to IKGPTU, it has been asked to set aside a land of about 25 acre to establish a museum on the life and history of Dr BR Ambedkar. It seems very strange that the state government has failed to provide financial resources to various universities of Punjab as well as Government Technical Education Institutions in Punjab but still it is adamant to open new Institutions. The government is struggling to provide salaries to some existing institutions. Due to this reason, the state has initiated process of transfer of teachers and employees of Bhai Hira Singh Bhattal College of Engineering and Technology, Lehragaga. The government is putting pressure on IKGPTU to accommodate these employees in IKGPTU.”
The IKGPTU employees associations have strongly opposed this move of the Punjab Government because the educational qualifications, scale and post of Lehragaga institute does not match with that of IKGPTU. The teaching and non-teaching association members also resolved that in case the government continued to put pressure on IKGPTU, then its employee would intensify the agitation.
