New Delhi, Sep 8 (PTI) More than Rs 8.5 lakh were spent to renovate the house of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit since February, students claimed on Thursday, citing an RTI reply.
They said the engineering department of the university has disclosed in the RTI reply that it has incurred an expenditure of Rs 10,04,045 from 2020 to 2022 to renovate the VC’s office against the sanctioned cost of Rs 9,74,946.
An amount of Rs 8.6 lakh was spent between February and May this year, including Rs 4.25 lakh to install air-conditioners at the VC’s residence, the department has said.
Pandit joined the university as the VC on February 7.
Neither Pandit nor JNU Registrar Ravikesh responded to phone calls from PTI seeking a response.
An application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act was filed by Madhurima Kundu, the secretary of the All India Students’ Association (AISA) unit at the university who is pursuing her PhD.
Kundu shared a copy of the RTI reply with reporters that showed an amount of Rs 8.6 lakh was spent between February and May to renovate the VC’s house.
“The cost incurred on the renovation of the VC’s house between February and May was Rs 8.6 lakh. While new inverters, air-conditioners and geysers are being bought for the VC, students do not even have money to clear the mess dues as the MCM (Merit-cum-Means) is not being released,” she said.
“Whenever the students demanded new hostels, books for the library or the opening of reading rooms, we were denied our rights, while the VC has found enough funds for such purposes,” Kundu added.
The JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) has accused the university administration of spending crores of rupees on the beautification of the campus, instead of dealing with the pressing issues of students.
The JNUSU has been staging an indefinite sit-in protest, demanding that pertinent issues within the campus be resolved immediately.
“The JNU administration has time and again spent crores on organising lavish events on the campus but has failed to speak about the demand for increasing the number of scholarships,” the students’ union said in a statement. PTI VA RC
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
Source: The Print
