Bhubaneswar, Oct. 31: Fund crunch and large-scale vacancy in teaching and non-teaching posts had affected the growth of universities in the state, said president of the All India University Employees’ Confederation and Bhabani Shankar Hota.

Hota, a former MP, was addressing the state executive council meeting of the All Orissa University Employees’ Federation at Utkal University.

“The state government and the University Grants Commission (UGC) are neglecting our universities. In a recent conference of the Association of Indian Universities, vice-chancellors from the eastern region had expressed that staff crunch had paralysed academic and administrative work in their respective varsities,” Hota said. Moreover, he said an expert panel constituted by the UGC had pointed out that no university could run with staff crunch.

“The number of casual and contractual staff in all universities has increased and they are not being regularised by the government. Now, everything is running in private-public partnership (PPP) mode and the private players are gaining profits. Form fill-up and exams are being outsourced to private organisations. This would ultimately lead to privatisation of higher education,” he said.

In a resolution, the council urged the state government to fulfil an 11-point charter of demands of the federation. It includes uniform staffing pattern, medical benefits based on the state secretariat rules, adequate posts for smooth functioning of universities, regularisation of temporary employees and democratisation of university administration and bodies by appointing more local members.

More than 100 delegates from 18 universities’ employees unions attended the meet.