Awaiting salaries, teachers boycott exam at Pbi varsity

Mohit Khanna

Patiala, December 18

Examination boycott and protests marked the day at Punjabi University here. The faculty members, who are part of the Punjabi University Teacher Association (PUTA), announced boycott of the examination starting from today as their salary for November had not been released.

The computer science exam was hampered for a brief period after teachers decided to boycott the examination. The university authorities soon swung into action and deputed additional staff for the smooth conduct of the examinations.

Sources said the university had made prior arrangements keeping in view the teachers’ boycott of examination. The Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof Arvind, had urged the teaching staff on Sunday to withdraw the call of boycotting the examination, but the teachers’ union refused to budge from their stand.

The university authorities maintained that the students would not have to suffer due to the ongoing protest and examination would be conducted as per schedule. “Adequate arrangements had been made in advance to tackle any eventuality. The strike made no impact and examination was conducted smoothly,” said a university official.

On the other hand, PUTA stated that the strike was called to protest against the non-release of salaries for November.

The university authorities even announced a holiday in Government Model School located on the campus today and deployed the staff of various departments as deputy superintendents.

PUTA president Bhupinder Singh Virk said the university administration had the necessary funds to pay the salaries to both teaching and non-teaching staff. Maninder Singh, PUTA, secretary, said that boycott would continue until salaries were disbursed.

A senior professor said, “The university is grappling with Rs 150 crore in liabilities, which incur substantial annual interest. The annual salary bill amounts to Rs 342 crore.” Recent quarterly grants covered the pendency of the past months, while for the remaining months, payment would depend on the next instalment of grant.