Punjabi University gets Rs 120 cr grant

Patiala, January 18

In a major relief for Punjabi University, which is grappling with a financial crisis and struggling to pay salaries to its teaching faculty, the state government has released a grant of Rs 90 crore for the last quarter and the pending grant of Rs 30 crore for the third quarter.

During the budget session last year, the government had promised to issue Rs 360 crore annually to the university.

Vice-Chancellor Arvind provided information regarding this and thanked the Punjab Government, especially Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema and Higher Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains. He said this confirms that the state government has education high on its agenda.

Punjabi University used to get a paltry monthly grant of around Rs 9.5 crore, and employees could not be paid for several months. As a result, every year, the university had to request the government for special grants.

To solve the problem, the government has permanently increased the grant issued to the university from Rs 9.5 crore to Rs 30 crore per month, stabilising its finances.

With the increased grant, and efforts by the university to manage its finances, the debt incurred by the university is decreasing, as also the rate of interest on it. The university’s debt of Rs 150 crore has fallen to Rs 146.68 crore, and the rate of interest on it is down from 12.9 per cent to 9.55 per cent.

In recent times, the university has taken steps to enhance its course bouquet. Six new five-year integrated courses were launched in 2021-22, and they have received overwhelming response from students. During the current session, around 800 students have enrolled in them, taking to around 2,400 the total of students in these six courses. Enrolment in other university courses, including engineering, has also increased.

Due to the precarious financial condition of the university, no recruitments have been made for around eight years. The university is in the process to dismiss around 20 tainted employees, and around 434 teaching and non-teaching employees have retired since 2018.

During the rationalisation process, Guru Kashi Centre, Talwandi Sabo, Regional Centre, Bathinda, and some departments at the Regional Centre, Mohali, and the university campus were merged and restructured. Staff allocation has also been rationalised so that the available resources can be utilised properly.

In view of the financial situation of the university, the vehicles allotted to university officials have been withdrawn. Also, there is a 50 per cent reduction in the expenses of Youth Welfare Department, Sports Department and NSS Department.

IT training is being provided to the university’s telephone attendants. An STP plant whose operations had been outsourced on contract is now being run by university employees, who have been trained for the purpose. In 2016-17, the university spent Rs 40 lakh on conferences, and the figure for the 2022-23 session Rs 11 lakh.

Till 2016-17, two-thirds of the conference budget came from the university’s account, but in 2022-23, the university contributed about one-third of it, the rest coming from external sources. The expenditure on sports was 40 per cent less in 2022-23 than the previous years’ average. The university received Rs 1.67 crore through CSR initiatives in 2023 for various projects.