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Bharathiar University to set up fund for staff: Vice-Chancellor

Amutha Kannan

COIMBATORE: Bharathiar University will set up a corpus for providing pension and retirement benefits to its 750 teaching and non-teaching staff, Vice-Chancellor G. Thiruvasagam told The Hindu on Sunday.

The fund would be set up with seed money of Rs. 10 crore.

The university would add Rs. 20 crore every year to the corpus, according to the Vice-Chancellor.

Enumerating the need for such a corpus, he said the university’s funds were being utilised for meeting the needs of those who had been retiring so far.

“This cannot be continued further without additional funds. The university is 26 years old. In the future there will at least 20 to 30 people retiring every year. If a system is not well planned now, it will become a grave problem later,” Mr. Thiruvasagam said.

With the implementation of the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission, the rise in pension of those retiring would increase three to four-fold.

This, along with the increase in number of people retiring was expected to make the situation difficult, according to the Vice-Chancellor.

“The university has not been receiving the block grant from the State Government that most of the State universities get every year for the past 15 years.

In this scenario, the faculty and non-teaching staff have been worried whether the university will be in a position to give them their pension and other retirement benefits. This corpus will guarantee them a secure future,” he added.

A request had been made to the Government to reconsider the awarding of the block grant. The Government was processing the same, the Vice-Chancellor said.

Earlier, the university had set up a corpus to help deserving university students’ travel abroad for study or research, or to attend seminars. This fund, for the staff, is the second one to be set up.

“Welfare measures are essential for the staff too, since they are the backbone of the institution. You have to assure them of a safe and secure future. This corpus is a step in the right direction,” the Vice-Chancellor assured.

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