Teachers of the Patiala-based Punjabi University, which is facing a financial crunch for a while, have written to the Chief Minister urging him to bail out the university from the crisis.
Members of the Punjabi University Teachers Association (PUTA) have been staging “sit-in” since June 2 outside the Vice-Chancellor’s office against irregular disbursal of salary and pension to the teaching and the non-teaching staff.
The association asked Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, in whose home town the university is situated, to constitute a high-power actionable committee to look into all the dimensions of the financial requirement. It sought a suitable strategy for the present crisis and also enhancement of the regular grant to avoid its recurrence.
“The financial crisis warrants the highest attention of the government. PUTA is of the considered opinion that without strong financial support from the government, it would not be possible for the institution to tide over the crisis,” said Jaswinder Singh Brar, president of the association, in the letter dated June 14.
Mr. Brar said the university has never been in a position to dispense salary to its staff on due date, i.e. the first day of every month, for many years. “The university often delays the payment of pension. Most often it falters on depositing the GPF-CPF and other deductions on time that causes noticeable interest loss to staff. Payment of honorarium for examination-related duties like paper setting, evaluation, thesis evaluation etc., to both university faculty and that of the affiliated colleges, generally remains overdue,” alleged Mr. Brar on Wednesday.
