IIMs, IITs fail to spend money meant for OBCs

New Delhi: Union Minister for Human Resource Development Arjun Singh is upset that central institutions especially the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) are not using the funds released to build new infrastructure for the Other Backward Castes (OBCs).

In fact, the IIMs haven't spent even a single penny from the fund released to them.

"The nation cannot afford to allow these resources and time to be wasted," Arjun Singh told a conference of Vice Chancellors of the Central Universities and the Directors of Central Technical Institutions in New Delhi on Monday.

He also said that the massive expansion plan to accommodate OBC students or otherwise is a top priority of the government.

There has been a substantial jump in the allocation of funds for higher education institutes, both for expansion related to implementing quotas and for opening new institutes to be implemented from the current academic year.

In the first installment of money for three year expansion plan, central universities have used 59 per cent of the Rs 379 crore released by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

The technical institutes have been able to spend just Rs 260 crore of the Rs 1647 crore allocated for this year.

The IITs have sped 18 per cent, National Institutes of Technology 16 per cent and IIMs have not been able to spend a penny.

"If you want to spend Rs 100 lakh you must have approved projects of Rs 200-250 lakh if the amount has to be spent especially for building and things which take a longer time," Higher Education Secretary RP Agrawal said in the conference.

Now, the HRD Ministry has made it very clear that it will not release any funds for the expansion plans if the allocations are underutilised. The institutes have also been asked to furnish financial statements and annual reports to be placed before Parliament in the coming session.

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