HYDERABAD: The University of Hyderabad in a sudden move has proposed to increase hostel fees paid by students by about 250 per cent. The budget proposed at the 67th Academic Council meeting on Wednesday included proposals for the increase in order to mobilise more internal resources.
The move comes after a letter from the University Grants Commission dated October 5, 2011 addressed to the UoH registrar expressed its inconvenience to enhance non-salary allocation as the ministry of Human Resource Development has not enhanced non-salary allocation for 2010-11 and 2011-12.
The varsity had received Rs 9.45 crore as grants in 2010-11. The current hostel fee amounts to Rs 3,850 per semester which is proposed to be hiked to Rs 9,600 for general category students whereas for students from reserved category, the proposed fee hike would be from Rs 2,150 to Rs 4,650.
The university, according to sources, has also proposed students who avail Social Welfare scholarships and the Boarding/ Boarding-cum-Lodging Allowance can avail only one of the two.
The major increase in hostel fees is due to increase in room rent from Rs 500 per semester to Rs 1,800 per semester, and various charges like hostel furniture charges of Rs 500, water charges Rs 300, electricity charges Rs 100, maintenance and mess service charge of Rs 3,000 for general students.
For students from reserved category, the charges are Rs 300 for water, Rs 600 for electricity and maintenance and mess charge of Rs 3,000. According to chief warden RS Sarraju, the university has 259 outsourced employees for which it incurs an expenditure of Rs 3.21 crore apart from its 160 permanent employees.
He said, “The UGC does not pay for the outsourced employees.” He added there was a need to mobilise internal resources from Rs 3.5 crore to Rs 6 crore to meet current expenditure. He also added from the proposed hike in hostel fees, the university would earn only Rs 2.4 crore and there is also a proposal to privatise the hostel messes to increase the revenues.
The Academic Council has proposed constitution of a special committee to further examine and study the situation for various possibilities. Meanwhile, the students’ union along with various student representatives staged a silent protest outside the DST auditorium where the meeting was being held.
Comments
0 comment