Financial woes forcing agriculture universty to sell lands

Jaipur: The finances of the agriculture universities in Rajasthan are in dire straits. Unable to bear the routine expenses like pension of its former employees, these universities are forced to part with a portion of their land used for research works. Proposal to this effect is awaiting its nod.

According to sources, the state government has been using the autonomy plank to squeeze the finances of the agriculture universities. State government argues that since the agriculture universities are autonomous bodies, they had to generate its own resources to meet its routine expenses while the government meets the expenses of salaries of the employees.

But many of these universities have not been able to generate its own income. Recently at a meeting with the state chief secretary, a proposal has been mooted to sell a part of the land at the disposal of these universities to generate a corpus fund to meet the expenses like pension. In some universities, pension dues are now over a year.

Accordingly, universities have sent proposal to the state government for approval. Swami Keshwand Agriculture University, Bikaner, had proposed to sell 50 bigha of land which is expected to generate an income of Rs 100 crore. University vice-chancellor Prof B L Chippa confirmed that proposal to this effect has been pending with the government for approval.

Similarly, Maharana Pratap University of Agriculture and Technology (MPUAT) had proposed to sell off about two hectare of prime land behind the J C Bose Hostel, which according to an estimate might fetch Rs 250 crore to the university's kitty. Sri Karan Narendra University, Jobner, is ready to part with 11 hectares of land at Daulatpura, which according to an estimate would generate income of Rs 100 crore.

Given this scenario, the Agriculture Research Centre at Durgapura has strongly opposed the acquisition of 296 bigha of prime land for the Jaipur Metro. The matter is now pending in the high court. Agriculture Research Centre at Durgapura is the only one of its kind in the state and various research programme and field trials of various crops are being carried out at the centre. By taking away a huge chunk of land from the research centre would hamper the research programme and field trials, it was argued.