Salary arrears push 49 non-teaching employees of Purnia varsity to the brink

IN 2018, AFTER PU CAME INTO EXISTENCE MANY OF THEM WERE PUT ON DEPUTATION IN THE UNIVERSITY AND MANY OF THEM GOT TRANSFERRED BUT THEY WERE NOT PAID THEIR SALARIES

ARARIA / PURNIA: Altogether 49 staff members of Purnea University (PU) are on the verge losing their fight to starvation.

“We have been fighting dual fights, one against the pandemic and the other against starvation,” one of the 49 staff members said. “We have not got our salaries since we were recruited in 2017, though we are being put on deputations and getting transferred.”

These 49 non-teaching members (19 of third grade and 30 of fourth grade) were recruited at Forbesganj College, Araria by the then Bhupendra Narayan Mandal University (BNMU)

Madhepura in 2017 following the order of the Patna High Court after hearing the petition of Ramnarayan Sahni and others Vs state government.

The HC had then directed the Bihar government to create 52 posts of non-teaching staff and directed BNMU Madhepura to recruit them by observing established rules and regulations.

Later the notification of the recruitment of the posts was published in the newspapers and following written examinations and interviews they were appointed at Forbesganj College in Araria.

In 2018 after PU came into existence many of them were put on deputation in the University and many of them got transferred but they were not paid their salaries. Even today they are working at quarantine centres being run in several colleges.

“Two of our staff lost their parents for want of proper treatment and many were forcefully evicted by the room owners when they could not pay the rents,” one of them said.

They saw a ray of hope when the state government released their salaries including all arrears two weeks ago. “But our hope turned out to be ephemeral as PU has put yet another stumbling block,” a member said. “PU has announced that the recruitment process would be be looked into.”

PU registrar Prof Patwari Yadav admitted that the government has sanctioned salaries with arrears for 49 staff member but said, “The fund has come without any sanction by the senate or syndicate of the university.”