June 14, 2007	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 28, 1428

RAWALPINDI, June 13: State sector universities always cry for funds but strangely they failed to utilise Rs11.34 billion of the development funds allocated to them last year. No wonder the government has greatly reduced such funding in the new year’s budget.

Budgetary documents show that state-funded universities in Islamabad and Rawalpindi failed to spend Rs5.835 billion of the total funds set for them in 2006-07 budget for raising buildings and conducting research and expanding academic activities.

They have to surrender the huge unspent money by end this month.

According to the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for 2007-08, an amount of Rs2.3 billion was allocated for infrastructure development of a permanent campus of Comsats Institute of Information Technology in Chak Shehzad and not a single penny had been utilised so far.

This total failure prompted the government to allocate just Rs20 million to the institute for the next year.

The International Islamic University (IIU) also remained unsuccessful in making use of Rs450 million earmarked for the development of its infrastructure, and the seat of higher learning has now also been provided with Rs20 million.

The much trumpeted establishment of a Media University in the federal capital has not yet entered the take-off stage despite the allocation of Rs450 million the previous year, and now the project has received only Rs10 million.

The Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has managed to spend only Rs10 million out of the total Rs389 million announced by the government last year and it will now get only Rs50 million.

The Quaid-i-Azam University that had got Rs625 million utilised Rs595 million, which is relatively good keeping in view the performance of other higher educational institutions of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

However, the university has failed to spend a separate grant of Rs485 million allocated for its development last year and now in the PSDP for 2007-08, the government has allocated only Rs50 million under this head.

Meanwhile, a similar situation prevailed in the universities of Rawalpindi.

The University of Arid Agriculture has surrendered Rs400 million that were supposed to be spent on construction of its biochemistry and biotechnology departments.

Its failure to utilise the funds forced the financial managers to allocate Rs20 million for the next year under the PSDP.

The heads of the university also failed to strengthen the sports facilities for which the government had assigned Rs38 million, and now they would be getting only Rs20 million for the next year.

The arid varsity still lacks a faculty of veterinary and animal sciences because Rs468 million allocated last year were not put to use and now it would have Rs75 million only to start the project.

The Fatima Jinnah Women University, which is bedevilled by shortage of space, could not utilise Rs450 million for establishing its second campus and the institute would now get only Rs10 million.

The construction of National College of Arts Rawalpindi is not even in the initial stages and Rs453 million allocated in this regard last year remained unspent. This year the university will receive just Rs50 million.

Even the Higher Education Commission (HEC) that regulates universities across the country failed to utilise the funds allocated for various projects last year and resultantly the government has now earmarked a meagre amount.

Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairman Dr Attaur Rehman, when contacted, told Dawn that the funds allocated for research and uplift activities in universities had been utilised, adding that the entire fund could not be consumed in a year as some projects were meant to be completed in five years.

He said there might be some flaws in the PSDP otherwise the HEC had its four years record of spending the allocated money.