The university office of comptroller, it is learnt, has already submitted the reply to government. The officials have met the FCD and this meeting was arranged by MLA, Ludhiana West, Harish Rai Dhadha. The university employees are now keeping their fingers crossed that their file pending with the state government would now be clear once the FCD is back from the national capital.

Dr KS Sangha, general secretary, Punjab Agricultural University Teachers Association, when contacted, informed, “The Rs 100-crore grant that came to us through ICAR after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced this grant during the Union Budget of 2005 -06. The grant was to be spent in a specific manner laid down by the ICAR and was spent accordingly. Similarly the Rs 100-crore budget that state government provides us annually has been spent on salaries.”

The government has also asked the university about how it spent the interest that it earned on these grants. Lakhwinder Singh Sandhu, vice-president, PAU Non-Teaching Employees Union, remarked, “Basically these are delaying tactics of the state government. The Rs 2 crore interest that we earned on Rs 100 crore grant has also gone into the salaries. Basically, the government knows it all but still it is delaying our grant for the revised pays.”

Notable here is that the university teachers were supposed to get their revised pay for the month of November. The letter was issued for non-teaching staff also. However these new salaries are yet to be received by many.

Meanwhile, the chain hunger fast against the state government by the PAU Employees and Teachers Joint Forum continued on 7th day today.

The employees are agitating against the wrong attitude of the state government and the university administration for not providing funds for implementation of the revised pay scales from August 2009. Both Sandhu and Dr Sangha (convenors) of the Joint Forum PAU Employees and Teachers has informed that the Punjab government employees have been drawing their salaries in the revised pay scales from August 2009. They decried the step-motherly treatment being meted to the PAU.