OU staff won't get November salaries

Hyderabad: The teaching and non-teaching staff of Osmania University may not receive their salary in November. According to an official of the university, the varsity has been facing severe financial crisis.

“As on today there is no money with the university. We may not able to pay salaries for the staff,” an official informed.

• Professors and non-teaching staff stage maha dharna over block grants
• TS chief secretary promises to resolve issue in a week
• Staff demand raise in funds allocation by 25%

University officials say that they have already taken up the issue with education minister G Jagadish Reddy. However, the minister could not give an assurance over the university’s finances.

A senior official estimates that the university requires Rs 31 crore per month. However the government has been granting only Rs 14 crore per month.

“The government is giving way less than what is actually required. How can the university run without enough grants? So far we somehow managed and paid salaries to the staff. Now there is no way for the university to get money,” the official said.

In the Telangana government’s maiden budget, the university was allotted Rs 170 crore. Officials of the varsity however say that this amount will not suffice and that the government should have granted at least Rs 331.55 crore annually for the functioning of the university.

A professor on the condition of anonymity said, “With hardly any funds in the varsity’s kitty, the university used up Rs 14 crore from the central funding agency for paying salaries. But that fund can’t be utilised again as it is meant for research activities.”

Expressing anguish over the government on budget allocation, a senior professor lamented, “Though the Telangana State has been formed, I am not happy with the current state of affairs of the university.

Everyone dreamt that the Telangana State will resolve all the issues. However, the the present situation is worse than what it was in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.”

On Thursday, about 200 teachers and non-teaching staff of the varsity staged a maha dharna at the university administrative building over insufficient block grants allocated in the budget.

Addressing a huge gathering, senior Prof. PL Vishweshwer Rao said, “While the AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu increased the budget of several universities in AP, Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao has decreased the budget of all universities in the State.”

Coming down heavily on KCR, Vishweshwer added, “It’s a shame that we are pleading KCR for our salaries and pensions. Doesn’t KCR know to pay our pay salaries, DAs and other things? Never in the history of university, DA and pension was stopped.”

Vishweshwar demanded the government to increase the block grant by 25 per cent. Prof. Kodandaram noted that since the regime of N Chandrababu Naidu, block grants have been gradually reducing in institutions across the State. He hoped that the Telangana government would recognise the need for enhancing the grant of the universities.

Telangana State Federation of Universities Teachers’ Association Chairman Prof. B Satynarayana met chief secretary Rajiv Sharma over the issue. Rajiv assured to resolve the issue of grants.

“He assured that the salaries of staff would be paid without delay and sought a week’s time to clear the issue. We will come out with an action plan if the government fails to resolve the issue in a week,” said Satyanarayana.