MADURAI: The teaching, non-teaching, and retired staff of the Madurai Kamaraj University said that they are finding it difficult to meet their expenses since, they alleged, they have not received salaries or pension for the months of December, 2023, and January 2024, due to financial crunch.
Speaking to TNIE, a faculty member said that the department of higher education hasn't released funds to the university, and demanded that the administration first clear audit objections and revise salaries of administrative staff.
He further stated that they are facing challenges in paying off EMIs for home loans and personal loans, house rent, expenses for children's education, as well as meeting daily expenses such as groceries. "The university needs around Rs 12 crore every month to disperse salaries and pension. Of this, Rs 4.9 crore will be used to pay pensions to 1,165 people. The remaining will be used to pay salaries of 202 UGC-scale teaching staff, 303 administrative staff, and more than 500 consolidated-salaried non-teaching staff," the faculty member said.
Responding to this issue, MKU Vice Chancellor J Kumar said authorities of higher education gave clear instructions to restructure the administrative staff salaries, and had already issued notice to them. Now, again going to issue notice and restructure their salaries. Hopefully, will do this within this week and get funds from the higher education department in order to disburse the salaries and pensions.