Indore: Citing a huge gap in government grant and its expenditure, the Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya (DAVV) has sought an increase in annual block grant by more than 10 times. In a letter address to the Department of Higher Education (DHE), the DAVV has said that its annual expenditure is more than Rs 250 crore whereas the government gives merely Rs 6 crore block grant for running the university.
“The huge gap in government grant and expenditure is taking toll on the university exchequer which is depleting fast,” vice-chancellor Dr Narendra Dhakad said. He said that the university has requested the DHE to increase its block grant by 10 times.
“We have sought a block grant of Rs 63 crore from the government for the fiscal 2018-19,” he stated. Operational cost of the university is growing whereas income is steady. Because of this scenario, the university coffers are getting empty fast.
DAVV finance controller Dilip Verma said that the university’s annual budget ranges between Rs 250 crore and Rs 260 crore. Every fiscal there is on an average deficit of Rs 10 crore. “In last four years, our savings are dwindling fast. We need to check this by increasing our income,” he said.
Because of growing expenditure, the university could not executive many of its plans including the plan to fill as many as 175 vacant teaching and 200 non-teaching posts. The university currently spends Rs 71 crore on payment of salary of staff and Rs 32 crore on maintenance of the university.
“If the vacancies were filled, the spending on disbursement of salary would increase from Rs 71 crore to Rs 100 crore,” the finance controller said. The university is not in a position to bear such a huge amount. That’s the reason that it is not filling teaching posts for the last four years. “If we fill vacancies, our expenditure will increase by 35 per cent to what it is today. So, as of now, we are not thinking of making new appointments. We will recruit only when our block grant is increased,” said Dhakad.