The boom and crackle of Diwali are lost for around 7,500 teachers and around 25,000 non-teaching employees at 11 universities in Bihar this year.

They have not received salaries for the past five months and are facing a tough time.

However, there is no problem in payment of salaries in Patna University. The state's oldest and smallest university generates funds from internal resources (such as tuition fees of vocational courses and other incomes) and uses it to pay its employees.

Many non-teaching employees working in different colleges and universities have been compelled to borrow money from private lenders. Even some employees are taking loans against their provident fund (PF) accumulation to meet their monthly expenses. One such employee is Amarnath Pathak, a non-teaching employee at Magadh University, Bodhgaya.

Pathak, who has taken a bank loan of Rs 1.5 lakh, said: "I have taken a loan from Central Bank of India against my PF and employees' welfare fund. I have also had to cut down on my monthly expenses."

Pathak, who is also the general secretary of Magadh University Non-Teaching Association, said: "There are many employees like me who have taken loans from banks against their PF and employees' welfare fund."

Teachers too are facing the brunt of the situation.

Vijay Kumar, an associate professor at RN College (Hajipur), facing a harrowing time, said: "I have been left with no other option but to borrow money from friends and relatives to meet my monthly expenses."

Because of non-payment of salary, Vijay's family could not celebrate Dussehra in a proper way. Vijay said: "I had promised to take out my family to some tourist spot during Dussehra vacation but could not because of financial crisis. I could not even buy new clothes for them."

The failure of universities to submit utilisation certificates to the education department is attributed to the latter's delay in releasing salaries on time. According to rules, universities have to submit utilisation certificates to the education department, which comprise a number of teaching and non-teaching employees working at the university.

The utilisation certificate carries promotion details of teaching and non-teaching employees, along with new appointments (mainly on compensatory ground at the non-teaching level) to the education department.

Sources in the education department said that many universities had failed to mention the exact teaching and non-teaching employees working at their varsity.

A senior official of the education department, preferring anonymity, said: "There are serious discrepancies in the total working strength of teaching and non-teaching employees against the teaching/non-teaching strength mentioned in utilisation certificates submitted by many universities."

However, the education department is optimistic that universities employees will receive their salaries soon.

K. Senthil Kumar, additional secretary said: "We have requested the finance department to give consent to the release of salaries. We hope that university employees get their salaries soon."