Unaided colleges urged finance ministry for bailout package

Ludhiana: Punjab Unaided Colleges Association (PUCA) urged Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister of India for the bailout packages for education sector in view of the severe impact of CoronaVirus outbreak on the Education Sector. 
 
Income stopped expenditure continues:
 
In a letter written to the Union Minister of Finance, Dr Anshu Kataria, President, PUCA said that unaided colleges were already going through a tough phase because of pending Post Matric Scholarship (PMS) towards the Centre and State Government. Kataria further said that because of shut down the revenue which colleges use to get is stopped but at the same time expenditure is not stopped.
 
Around 1850 crore due under post Matric scholarship:
 
Amit Sharma, Senior Vice President, PUCA said that the Education sector has been adversely affected due to this problem. Many of the States including Punjab have not been disbursed the Post Matric Scholarship (PMS) funds since last 3 years which Centre Govt used to disburse through the State Governments. Even in Punjab around 1850 crore is due and colleges are facing huge financial crisis.
 
Employees badly affected as salaries are unpaid:
 
Gurpreet Singh, General Secretary, PUCA said that such situation has not only created trouble for colleges but also for thousands of employees working in these colleges. Before coronavirus impact salary for 4-5 months was due in many colleges. Colleges were expecting disbursement of post matric scholarship before 31 March. But with coronavirus problem, now this hope is also dashed
 
Colleges need waiver of interest and installment:
 
Ashok Garg, Treasurer, PUCA said that banks are not giving any moratorium on interest or installment, waiver of interest or restructuring of debt to support the education sector. He said that the education sector needs immediate attention as hundreds of colleges will close if the same situation continues for a few more weeks
 
Gurfateh Gill, Vice President; Gurkirat Singh, Joint Secretary-I, CA Renu Arora, Joint Secretary-II; Manav Dhawan,  Tricity Coordinator, Cherry Goyal, Malwa-I Coordinator; Monty Garg, Malwa-II Coordinator;  Dr. Akashdeep Singh, Majha Coordinator and Sanjeev Chopra, Doaba Coordinator; Dr. Guninderjit Jwanda, Head Scholarship Dept along with other executive members including Rajesh Garg, CA Venus Jindal, Shivom Vashishat, Mohit Mahajan,  Manpreet Kaur Bhogal, Dr. Jeewan Jyoti Sidana executive members etc also urged the same