Senate members give a nod of Rs 382.35 crore; blame varsity for over budgeting, which in turn is showing a deficit of Rs 100 crore
Senate members give a nod of Rs 382.35 crore; blame varsity for over budgeting, which in turn is showing a deficit of Rs 100 crore
A budget worth Rs 382.35-crore, providing funds for construction of a world class sports complex, students convention centre, virtual classrooms among other facilities was passed by the senate of the University of Pune (UoP), following a marathon day-long debate that ended late last night.
In the bad books: Senate members expressed concern over the UoP's
track record of poor utilisation of funds. File pic
The proposed sports complex which has been sanctioned Rs 10 crore, is expected to have world class swimming pools, running tracks, badminton and tennis courts and the construction work would be undertaken by the varsity. Besides this, the budget announced setting up a faculty of technology at a cost of Rs 85 lakh where a five-year integrated MTech and PhD programme would be offered in consultation with industry experts.
Two other projects that generated interest were allocation for a student's convention centre at Rs 10 crore, which would have auditorium, Wi-Fi connectivity and the like for students. There is also a plan to start virtual classrooms for all affiliated colleges at a cost of Rs 5 crore. Meanwhile, the allocation to the university's Students Welfare Board (SWB), which drives most of the student-centric programmes, is Rs 7.30 crore.
Vasudev Gade, director of Board of College and University Development (BCUD) tabled the budget; a major chunk was allocated to maintenance costs at Rs 249 crore which included salaries of university employees.
The second biggest allocation was for the development of varsity. It included new constructions at Rs 69 crore, student centric schemes, maintenance and restoration of UoP main building.
Over budgeting
While the budget presented many ambitious plans, senate members weren't too happy as they expressed concern over the varsity administration's track record of poor utilisation of budget allocations.
Senior senate member Gajanan Ekbote, said that the financial plan was a clear case of over-budgeting. "Last year they presented an inflated budget of Rs 308 crore that showed a deficit of Rs 152 crore. However, after audit, it was found that not even 50u00a0 per cent of budget was utilised which means there was a surplus of Rs 43 crore. Even this year, they have shown a deficit of Rs 100 crore, but half the schemes they announce are never carried out and less than 60 per cent of this budget will be used," he claimed.
However, Gade contested this claim and said that the budget had been utilised to more than 60 per cent last year. "Some projects are long term and get reflected in budgets for consecutive years which gives the false idea that project never took off," he said.
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