Even as the frequent appearance of various zoonotic diseases, including caused by Nipah virus, has put the State government on tenterhooks, the Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU) is grappling with a severe financial crisis similar to the one faced by the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC). The KVASU has the mandate to control and prevent zoonotic diseases, among others, by ensuring quality animal healthcare through sustained academic research and related activities.
For a fifth month in the current year, salary disbursement at the 12-year-old university has been delayed, affecting its routine functioning. The KVASU, which won the Governor’s Emerging Young University recognition three times in a row, now reels under a financial liability of close to ₹100 crore.
Speaking to The Hindu, Sabin George, general secretary, Confederation of University Teachers Organisations of Kerala (CUTOK), the employees’ outfit at the university, said the financial crisis has now gone from bad to worse with the monthly deficit accumulating to a whopping ₹83 crore.
