BHUBANESWAR: Central University of Odisha (CUO) at Koraput is in a Catch-22 situation. It has not received grant from Ministry of Human Resources Development for infrastructure projects for four consecutive years. Now, it has to source funds from the Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA) under the Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE) initiative.Under the RISE model, central universities have to seek loan from HEFA - a joint venture of MHRD and Canara Bank - for funding infrastructure projects. The loan comes in 90:10 ratio. A university has to repay 10 percent of the loan in 10 years. Interest on the principal as well as the rest 90 per cent is paid by the Centre to the funding agency.
Last year, the Union Cabinet approved `191.39 crore each to seven central universities under Capital Assets head. The CUO which has not received any grant for building projects since 2016-17 approached MHRD seeking about `442 crore. It was asked to approach HEFA.The Koraput-based central university can now avail funds of up to `200 crore but 10 per cent will have to be repaid in ten years from its internal resource generation (IRG). That’s where it gets tricky for CUO as its IRG have remained almost stagnant. During 2017-18, the IRG was 1.08 crore whereas in 2019-20, it stood at `1.13 crore after reporting a marginal fall. In 2018-18, the internal resource mobilization was `1.22 crore. A major chunk of the resources come from entrance examination fee which has fallen after CUO joined the common test meant for central universities.
The recurring expenditures, sourced from UGC grants, have proved inadequate forcing it to use IRG. The worries for State’s only central university, located in its KBK region, have piled up.The CUO is in a quandary. It may have to resort to funding from HEFA but that would mean raising its IRG so that annual repayments can be met. This may also mean shift the burden on to students as the university will be forced to hike fees.
Besides, if internal monetary resources are utilised towards repayment of loan, the University will also not left with much to promote other development activities and research works. If it does not get the funds on time, its infrastructure upgradation plans could be hit. As it is, CUO is in the first phase compared to contemporary universities. Sources reveal that CUO requires funds to take up project works in an additional 44,000 square metre to scale up campus infrastructure as approved by the Union Cabinet along with new programmes that require to be introduced.
Despite located in Koraput, an aspirational district, investment of funds under Capital Assets in CUO has remained one of the lowest among all the central universities established in 2009. The investment in CUO, so far, has been `161.87 crore compared to `614.74 crore in Central University of Rajasthan, ` 512.73 crore in Central University of Tamil Nadu, `441.62 crore in Central University of Karnataka, `412.17 crore in Central University of Jammu, `400.70 crore in Central University of Kerala and `399.10 crore in Central University of Haryana.
In fact, infrastructure development in CUO hit a plateau after 2014 which prompted the MHRD not to release the grants as expenditure capacity dropped to 20 per cent. “There was no point parking funds in bank accounts if the central universities are not spending,” said sources. The low spending was one of the reasons why CUO’s infrastructure development has remained in Phase I whereas its contemporaries have leapt ahead. What, however, remains unclear why the MHRD has remained silent on slow progress of infrastructure development in last 11 years.
In the conference of Vice-Chancellors of Central Institutions of Higher Learning held at Rashtrapati Bhawan in December 17 last year, sources said, many universities pointed out that they had sought more than `300 crore under project mode but less than a third of the required amount was sanctioned but as loan from HEFA. The CUO and other universities had also sought a one-time Grant-in-Aid package under HEFA Window - IV to enable them to be well equipped with minimum infrastructure. The proposal, however, is yet to be finalised.Head of the Central University Bureau in the Ministry couldn’t be reached for his reactions, while other officials declined to comment.