The state government has directed Jadavpur University to utilise ₹44 crore sanctioned under the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (Rusa 2.0), stipulating that the entire amount must be spent by September, an education department official said on Tuesday.

Vice-chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharjee said the higher education department had asked the university to begin utilising the funds last week.

Under the funding pattern, 60% of the grant will be provided by the Centre and the remaining 40% by the state government.

With a “double engine government” in power — a BJP-led government at the Centre and in Bengal — funds are expected to be released faster, said a JU official.

Of the ₹100 crore allotted for JU under the scheme, the university got ₹56 crore in 2019.

The funds remained pending for years amid a tussle between the Centre and the state, with the erstwhile Mamata Banerjee government accusing the Union government of imposing conditions to withhold the grant.

In October 2021, the then VC Suranjan Das wrote to Sunita Siwach, then national coordinator of Rusa: “It was not stated that having 70% of all teaching posts filled up was an essential precondition for receiving the grant.”

The situation appears to have eased since the BJP was voted to power in May.

On Tuesday, VC Bhattacharjee said that they were listing the areas where the money could be utilised. “The money is for us. The only condition is that we have to spend the money by September. We look forward to spending a substantial part of it,” he said.

The university on Tuesday convened a meeting of deans, officials and representatives of teachers’ associations to discuss the utilisation of the funds.

Partha Pratim Ray, secretary of the Jadavpur University Teachers’ Association, said the funds could be utilised for annual maintenance contracts for equipment, as well as for purchasing software licences and other equipment, given that only about two-and-a-half months remain to meet the deadline.

“We had plans to develop a Tagore Extension Centre and a boys’ hostel. The two projects would have together taken around ₹9 crore from the Rusa funds. But completing such projects and giving utilisation certificates within two-and-a-half months is impossible. So we have to focus on short-term projects that can be delivered by September,” said Ray, who is a member of the university’s executive council.

Another JU professor said the funds should be utilised for the repair and renovation of dilapidated buildings, like the pharmacy department.

“It is in such a bad shape that an accident could happen any day. Since the university is not in a position to renovate the building on its own, given its fund constraints, the Rusa funds should be utilised.”

In July 2024, JU teachers wrote to then vice-chancellor Bhaskar Gupta, warning that several campus buildings were in a “dangerous condition”, were “completely unfit” and posed risks for daily use.

The pharmacy building was among those flagged in the letter.