NEW DELHI: Facing a major financial crunch with little regular income, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is planning to redevelop or lease two of its main properties to a private entity to earn a steady revenue every month.
Gomti Guest house and 35 Feroz Shah Road, two properties owned by the JNU, are to be monetised by the university. Besides, the JNU has also planned to write to the education ministry asking the 12 national institutes built on its campus to pay rent.
JNU V-C Santishree D Pandit, while speaking to The New Indian Express, said the university is currently undergoing significant financial pressure as there has been no earning, as the Centre has subsidised everything. “We have been demanding the tag of Institute of Eminence. That will bring us Rs 1,000 crore which will be added to our corpus and the interest it will generate will relieve the financial pressure that JNU is undergoing,” the V-C said.
On the monetisation of university properties, Pandit said, “We are looking to repurpose our properties; we have the 35 Feroz Shah Road which we want to redevelop on public-private partnership. We will have to take permission from the Centre because currently nobody pays the rent. Secondly, we have the Gomti guest house behind the FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry) building. We are thinking of putting out an expression of interest to give it to a private entity so that they can give us a rent and run it with a profit. I am spending `50,000 per month on maintenance without getting anything back. I want to do what the IITs have done.”
Pandit said, “I can get Rs 50,000-1 lakh from the Gomti guest house every month. Meanwhile, on the Feroz Shah Road property, I want to make a multi-storey building somewhat like the ICC (Indian Chamber of Commerce). Seminar halls, auditoriums and guest houses can be rented. It can be professionally maintained and rent can come, but it will take more than two years to build.”
JNU is also trying to arrive at an agreement with the education ministry such that the 12 national institutes, operating out of the JNU campus without paying any rent, shall pay rent every month. The V-C said the rent would at least provide a constant source of income for the university since they cannot increase the fees.
The V-C also said the varsity is planning on reducing its dependence on electricity by installing solar panels on campus. “Our largest expense every month month is electricity; students want everything for free, even ACs,” the V-C said.