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The prestigious Hampi Kannada University is completely funded by the Karnataka government. (Image: News18)
The letter signed by the chancellor said power will be discontinued if the pending amount is not paid soon. The university had sent multiple requests to the previous BJP government for required grants
The prestigious Hampi Kannada University in Karnataka has written to the chief minister and energy minister to pay electricity dues over Rs 1 crore over the past couple of months. The letter signed by the chancellor stated that power will be discontinued if the pending amount is not paid soon.
The university, which is completely funded by the government, has been cash-strapped despite multiple requests to the previous government to provide them with the required grants. DC Paramashivamurthy, chancellor of Hampi Kannada University, told News18 that there were many expenses out of which they expected the government to at least pay the power bill.
“If you take this month’s bill, it’ll come up to Rs 1 crore. Dues worth 10 months are pending. The grants given by the government are not enough and, hence, the electricity bill is overdue. I’m adjusting all the money I can and paying other expenses but to pay arrears we need funds. We don’t know if they’ll be able to provide us with the required sum, but we just want them to pay this electricity bill,” Paramashivamurthy said.
Short-staffed, no funds to pay teachers and scholarship amount
Apart from the electricity bill, the university is also facing other issues with regard to maintenance. It is battered by a shortage of lecturers, non-availability of funds to pay the existing staff and also likely to halt the SC/ST scholarship for students.
The university, which has 72 teaching posts, has only 45 staff members while 27 remain vacant and with just one or no staff at all in certain departments. “It’s been 30 years since this university started and almost all are about to retire; in two to three years, 10 more staff members will retire and new staff will have to be recruited. We have written to the government about this. We have sanctioned posts, teaching and non-teaching staff. We told the government that we have 375J reservation under which we’ll recruit staff; they had even granted permission to fill some vacant posts a couple of years ago but it was stopped due to certain technical issues. We are once again approaching the government to permit us,” said the chancellor.
The Hampi Kannada University is in dire need of a minimum of Rs 5 crore per year to maintain and carry out administrative functions. The previous government, which managed to provide grants, could not do so during Covid adding more burden on the administration to run the university.
Unlike the rest of the universities, the Kannada University does not have degree students and lacks an internal source of income. It cannot go ahead to burden their PhD students with a higher fee.
“We don’t have any affiliations so we are dependent on the government and to maintain a 7,000-acre campus; we need grants. Before every budget, the government asks for our expenses. If we ask for Rs 5 to 10 crore, we get Rs 1 or 2 crore, if we persist they give another Rs 50 lakh. Development works can’t happen with that money. Since it’s a research university, the professors go to the field for research work and have to travel to different libraries. Since we have PhD students, we have to get experts to teach them and provide TA/DA as per the rules. We have four hostels here and have to maintain them. There is a serious lack of grants. Last year, we got only Rs 1.5 crore and we have been managing with it,” he added.
With a new government in power, the chancellor has taken the opportunity to write to the CM and his deputy, seeking grants for the university and to consider its requirements and allocate funds in the upcoming budget session.
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