HYDERABAD: The Central government’s inability to provide funds for Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) has resulted in the varsity being choked in every way - from the non-availability of funds for fellowships to construction of buildings, including hostels.
The university on Wednesday released a circular saying that there has been a delay in the receipt of grants from the University Grants Commission (UGC) and that it will not be able to provide Non-National Eligibility Test (NET) fellowships for PhD scholars for the coming months, unless funds are made available by the UGC.
The circular also reads that the university managed to provide the non-NET fellowship till the month of November, despite a delay from the UGC in making the funds available.
Officials from the university told Express that this was managed by scraping through the university’s internal resources. The university was earlier this year, forced to approach the Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA) for a loan of Rs 80 crore for completing the construction of around 12 buildings.
These buildings were to be completely funded by the UGC, but the Central government agency stopped releasing funds, forcing the university to seek a loan through the Higher Education Funding Agency.
The 12 buildings were partially constructed when the UGC stopped funds for their construction, leaving the university in a desperate situation as they had to pay the contractors.
As per the minutes of the 75th Executive Council meeting of MANUU, delaying these on-going projects would have resulted “in litigation or arbitration proceedings by the contractors.”
With the university forced to take the Rs 80 crore loan through HEFA, the move might further increase financial burden on the university.