Thrissur: With the dwindling financial assistance from the government, the Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) has taken a loan of Rs 40 crores by mortgaging land to meet its expenses. The main reason for this crisis is that the funds allocated by the government have not increased in the past three years.

It is customary for the government to increase the funding by 10 percent every year. However, only Rs 408 crore have been allocated in the budget for three years. If the usual marginal increase norm was followed, KAUs current financial crisis would find some relief.

The governing body of the university has now taken a loan to manage the financial crisis so as to not hinder the introduction of new courses. However, this loan is not enough to get KAU out of debt.

The Governing body of KAU has given the Controller permission to mortgage the property under the ownership of the university with nationalized banks or Kerala bank.

In order to raise more funds, the governing body has also given approval to secure a large refundable caution security deposit from NRI-International students enrolling in new courses. The decision of the governing body indicating all these matters was conferred upon the Vice Chancellor to issue a notification in consultation with the Pro Chancellor. The decision of the body dated August 19 was issued by the university registrar.

Debt-expenditure

Rs 87.47 crore pension liability for current year (not paid since May 2020)

Rs 12.06 crore provident fund liability

Rs 33 crore required for monthly salary

Funds received

Rs 1.68 crore internal revenue
Rs 5.20 crore received via research projects