Madras University staff stage hunger protest to settle their issues

CHENNAI: Amid the University of Madras is facing a severe financial crisis, the employees of the institution including both teaching staff and administrative employees staged a hunger strike on Friday demanding to release the several frozen bank accounts across the State by the Income Tax (IT) department and settle their dues as soon as possible.

Since the University could not pay about Rs 420 crore as income tax from 2017 to 2021, its bank account was sealed by the IT department recently. In view of that, more than 100 teaching staff and non-teaching employees staged a hunger protest demonstration inside the campus demanding the institution to look into their issues with immediate effect.

During the protest, University of Madras Professors Forum head K Sundaram said that during the past few years, the institution was suffering from a severe financial crisis. "Retirement benefits were not given to the staff, who had been relieved from the service since 2018", he said adding "The university has not also released their PF savings".

Stating that the IT department had freezed the accounts of the university, he said "In this situation, the electricity bill could not be paid. In addition, answer sheets evaluation also affected, which will affect the announcement of the results".

Urging the State government to take steps to help the university to release the freezed bank accounts, he said "Moreover, now the situation has also arised that the university could not disburse the salaries to the temporary staff". Meanwhile, Higher Education Minister R S Rajakannappan met the representatives of the university, who explained the former about the current issues of the institution.