Wed, Jan 22, 2014 at 6:17 PM
Pb. Govt. must ensure an assured fund for the PAU
LUDHIANA:January 2,2014: (Rector Kathuria//Satpal Soni//Punjab Screen):
Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari today demanded immediate release of the salaries of the employees of the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), who include scientists, teachers and other non-teaching staff. He regretted that the staff had to struggle to get their monthly salaries as a result of criminal and callous indifference of the Akali-BJP government towards them.
In a statement issued here today, the Union Minister, who represents Ludhiana in the Lok Sabha, said, given the importance of the institution towards the agricultural development of the state, the Punjab government must ensure an assured fund for the PAU so that the staff there does not suffer.
He said, it has become a routine for several years now that the PAU employees’ salaries get delayed in the last quarter of every financial year and still the government has not devised any mechanism to ensure that the practice does not get repeated.
Tewari said, it reflected very badly on the fiscal management of the Akali-BJP government in the state that the scientists and professors who should otherwise be working in fields, laboratories and classrooms, which they are doing in any case against all odds and despite their salaries getting delayed, are forced to sit on dharna for what should come to them as their rightful due.
The Minister maintained that while all the educational and research institutions are of paramount importance, the PAU holds special place since it has not only scripted the Green Revolution in the country but also sustained it. “It is an irony that when the Punjab government is claiming to improve the agriculture economy it is treating PAU so step-motherly”, the minister said, while seeking the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s personal attention to this pressing issue.
While assuring that he will try whatever he can at the government of India level, Tewari said, a few years ago he had managed to get a one-time special grant of Rs 100 crores for the PAU, he will again try to get some more grants. However, he added, it is actually the state government that has to ensure that the PAU does not suffer for want of grants as the institution comes under the state government only.
Pb. Govt. must ensure an assured fund for the PAU
In a statement issued here today, the Union Minister, who represents Ludhiana in the Lok Sabha, said, given the importance of the institution towards the agricultural development of the state, the Punjab government must ensure an assured fund for the PAU so that the staff there does not suffer.
He said, it has become a routine for several years now that the PAU employees’ salaries get delayed in the last quarter of every financial year and still the government has not devised any mechanism to ensure that the practice does not get repeated.
Tewari said, it reflected very badly on the fiscal management of the Akali-BJP government in the state that the scientists and professors who should otherwise be working in fields, laboratories and classrooms, which they are doing in any case against all odds and despite their salaries getting delayed, are forced to sit on dharna for what should come to them as their rightful due.
The Minister maintained that while all the educational and research institutions are of paramount importance, the PAU holds special place since it has not only scripted the Green Revolution in the country but also sustained it. “It is an irony that when the Punjab government is claiming to improve the agriculture economy it is treating PAU so step-motherly”, the minister said, while seeking the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s personal attention to this pressing issue.
While assuring that he will try whatever he can at the government of India level, Tewari said, a few years ago he had managed to get a one-time special grant of Rs 100 crores for the PAU, he will again try to get some more grants. However, he added, it is actually the state government that has to ensure that the PAU does not suffer for want of grants as the institution comes under the state government only.
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