QUETTA/GWADAR: The Balochistan government on Thursday appro­ved a one-time grant for the province’s public sector universities to overcome financial crisis and asked the vice chancellors to establish a transparent financial system in the institutions.

The decision was taken at a meeting presided over by Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti and attended by the VCs.

Hundreds of Balochis­tan University employees, including teachers, recently held protests over non-payment of salaries for the past three months.

The chief minister said steps must be taken to control unnecessary expenditures and urged the VCs to improve performance within two months.

Security Finance Babar Khan Kakar told Dawn that all eight universities will be given Rs600m.

“The provincial government has already given them Rs2.5bn allocated in the annual budget,” he said, adding that universities would also receive the fourth tranche of their share from the HEC in April, which will help them overcome the financial crisis.

Visit to Gwadar

The CM also visited Gwadar on Thursday and presided over a meeting to review the security situation in view of recent terrorist attacks in Gwadar and Turbat.

Mr Bugti said CPEC projects are guarantors of progress for the country and Balochistan. The federal and provincial governments are utilising all available resources for the development of Gwadar, he said.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2024