Calcutta, June 9 :     Faced with an acute funds crunch, the state government is likely to discontinue 13 under-graduate vocational courses taught in 57 colleges under Calcutta University. These courses are being sponsored by the University Grants Commission (UGC) from 1994 on the condition that the government will have to run them after completion of five years. Even though the university is yet to decide on the fate of the courses, pro vice-chancellor, academic, Surabhi Banerjee said the authorities were serious about continuing them. Banerjee is the chairperson of a seven-member committee set up last month to decide on the fate of the courses. ?We are planning to set up an under-graduate board in vocational studies for smooth running of the courses,? she added. Banerjee said that there was also a plan to open a data bank to monitor students? enrolment and their job prospects on completing the courses. However, it is still uncertain whether the government will finally take over the courses. As per norms, the UGC will not provide funds for the courses after five years. If the government does not take over the courses from next year, they will cease to exist. A senior Calcutta University official said that the government would have to shoulder a burden of around Rs 3 crore per year to continue these courses. ?We will shortly take up the issue with both the UGC and the state government,? he said. Students to suffer If the courses are closed down, about 1,500 students will be affected. These three-year courses have eight papers, including office management and secretarial practices, communicative English, functional Hindi, computer applications, tourism and travel management, advertising and mass communication, of 100 marks each. Sources said the university authorities were not very serious about conducting the courses from the beginning. Though the courses are being taught at the under-graduate levels, no board of studies has so far been set up since their introduction in 1994. Most colleges have no permanent teachers and infrastructure to run the courses. Students who complete these courses do not get computerised marksheets as other under-graduate students. Sight restoration: Sight Savers International, a UK-based charity organisation for the blind, celebrating its golden jubilee during 1999-2000, in association with the Rotary Club of Budge Budge conducted a sight-restoring surgery on a 35-year-old at the Gulabi Raj Shyamal Memorial Eye Hospital today. At a press conference organised by the organisation and attended by Neil Hill, Rotary International president, Great Britain, it said it has restored the sight of 4 million people and treated over 45 million. The organisation has been working in Budge Budge alongwith the Rotary Club and NGOs since the late Seventies.