THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With no money even to pay salaries and pensions, universities are in dire financial straits, having to withdraw fixed deposits and take overdrafts to meet expenses. Uncertainty is looming over the benefits of those who will retire en masse on the 31st of this month.

The government, which forcibly transferred crores of money from the own funds to the treasury, cancelled Rs 89.02 crore, the last installment of the non-plan grant for the previous financial year. With this, the varsities are withdrawing the fixed deposits so that payment of salaries and pensions do not come to a halt. Development activities have hit a roadblock.

University of Kerala
1429 employees, 198 teachers and more than 3,000 pensioners. Rs 30 crore is required to pay salary and pension. The grant was suspended. A fixed deposit of Rs 15 crore was withdrawn to pay the salary for the month of April. Rs 400 crore deposited in SBI as a reserve in previous grants and research funds was transferred to the treasury. Fellowship will also cease with the repayment of the research fund. Even if the grant is allotted, it won't be enough to pay salaries and pensions. If fees are increased to increase revenue, studies of economically backward students will be affected.

Calicut University
180 teachers, 1600 staff and 500 contract staff. Rs 20 crore is required for paying salary and pension. A fixed deposit of Rs 10.80 crore was withdrawn. 353 crore was transferred to the treasury.

MG University
129 teachers, 1500 employees, and 2000 pensioners. Required around Rs 25 crore. Need to withdraw fixed deposits.

Agricultural University
500 teachers, 1400 employees and more than 2000 pensioners. Serious financial crisis.

Open University
Salary for the month of March was not paid due to a shortage of Rs 54 lakhs

Sanskrit University
More than 800 employees. Payment of salary and pension was stopped in February. Malayalam and Kannur varsities are also facing a financial crisis.

Govt withdrawing from paying pension
The government is withdrawing from the pension and retirement benefits of varsity staff and teachers. The Finance Department's order to set up the Pension Fund and the Pension Fund Board was frozen due to protests.

25% of the salary should be transferred to the pension fund within 10 days of every month. 10% of this can be met from government grants as a state share. The order states that the remaining 15% should be found by the universities from their own funds. This will put the varsities in debt.

Non-Plan Grant (in Crores)

Kerala------------------320.22

MG------------------196.02

Calicut------------244.27

Kannur----------------66.18

CUSAT---------------168.15

Sanskrit -------------- 73.90

Malayalam---------------117.15

Technological ------------76.05

Open------------------4.40

Slashed grant

MG-16.3 crore

Calicut-20.37 crores

Kerala-26.68 crores

Sanskrit-6.15 crores

Kannur-5.51 crore

CUSAT-14.01 crore