Delhi Govt To Release This Amount To End Standoff With DU Colleges’ Staff, Teachers

New Delhi: The Delhi government announced on Tuesday that it would release funds of ₹28.24 crore to pay the salaries of staff of its fully-funded Delhi University (DU) colleges.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal convened a meeting with the principals and chairpersons of the 12 fully-funded DU colleges earlier in the day. In the meeting, Kejriwal said that the Delhi government will release ₹28.24 crore and the government will only issue funds in the future based on the directions of the court.

“Since the last few days, I have been reading news reports that the teaching staff of the DU colleges is not getting salaries. Our government is known and recognised for working to improve the education and health sectors in Delhi. But there has been an unwarranted misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the intentions of the Delhi government,” Kejriwal was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

“I want to clarify to all of the esteemed members present in this meeting, we are on the same side of the table. We do not oppose the pleas and concerns of the staff. Since the last few years, we have tried to initiate talks with the DU authorities and the VC, but there may have been differences, political and otherwise. Today is a new beginning. We also need dialogue to be initiated on behalf of the Delhi University authorities and the Vice-Chancellor of the DU to resolve several issues which are pending and are acting as a bone of contention. We will issue an invite to the Vice-Chancellor on behalf of Shri Manish Sisodia Ji’s office to have a dialogue with him on the pending issues,” Kejriwal added.

It may be recalled that the Delhi University Teachers’ Association (DUTA) had called for a varsity “shutdown” from March 11 to protest a number of issues including non-payment of salaries to teachers.

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