Demanding the university authorities to disburse the last two-month salaries, about 100 faculty members of various departments of Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) staged a demonstration at the portico of the main building on Thursday.
They told media persons that they had not received salaries for July and August. “Without affecting the regular classes, we have decided to stage agitation starting today to draw the attention of the government,” they said.
Some of the teaching faculty would stay put in their departments till 10 p.m. to draw the attention of the government and if required they would intensify the stir by resorting to fast and other modes of protest, they said.
The University has been reeling under a severe financial crunch due to various reasons for the past few years. According to a senior professor, the university required around ₹2.50 crore per month for disbursal of salaries alone to 140 persons on roll. For the 1,100 pensioners, it needs another ₹5.90 crore. But the university generates a revenue of only ₹2 crore to ₹2.50 crore a month by way of student fee, etc.
The government should immediately drop the more than 3,000 audit objections in the larger interest of the university and help run the institution without interruption. A Centre of Excellence, various departments of the university had earned reputation and produced stalwarts in various fields over the years and such a rich tradition should continue in the future, said Prof S. Murugesan, adding he hoped for urgent action by the Higher Education Department to save the university.
Another faculty member said that the State government should release not only funds to the ailing university, but also help with a corpus with which the pensioners could be paid. Many posts that were lying vacant due to superannuation of employees need to be filled.
The university authorities had submitted a detailed proposal for boosting the finances, as required by the government, a few months ago. It must be looked into and expeditiously implemented.
Last year, the government released ₹58.5 crore from its block grants with which the university disbursed the salaries.
Vice-Chancellor J. Kumar had tendered resignation a few months ago citing personal reasons following which a convenors’ committee was formed to discharge the duties of the V-C. The faculty members said the reputation of the institution was at stake and the need of the hour was to save it by all means.
Published - September 05, 2024 08:21 pm IST
