September 20, 2008	Saturday	Ramazan 19, 1429

KOHAT, Sept 19: The Kohat University of Sciences and Technology (Kust) has cut its developmental and non-developmental projects by 30 per cent and delayed some important projects for about three years on the instructions of the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

Vice-Chancellor (VC) Lutfullah Kakakhel told Dawn that like all other areas the education sector, which already got low allocations than its requirements, had been affected by the government’s decision to slash the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) by 40 per cent to coup up with the financial crunch.

Mr Kakakhel said that he had to relieve many experienced professors who had been appointed on daily-basis during the summer vacations and reappoint them again due to shortage of staff. He regretted that it was injustice with the talented faculty, required for providing good education to the students but he had to remove them due to financial crises.

The under-construction university building needed ample funds to be completed, he said, by the stipulated time period and for nurturing the newly appointed staff, which had been affected due to the devaluation of the rupee against the dollar. It affected the PhD programmes, he added.

Answering to a question, the VC said that he did not know when the problem would be solved and smooth supply of funds would resume but the instructions from the HEC to delay all projects by three to four years spoke for the gravity of the issue.

They had discussed the matter at the syndicate meeting to identify the less important projects with great difficulty for cutting both developmental and non-developmental funds to save money, he said.