To get ₹17 crore released from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the Telangana Agricultural Scientists Association (TASA) has been struggling for the past year and finally reached out to the finance minister for help. Prior to that, the association made significant efforts to get the State’s ₹17 crore share released, nearly at the March 31, 2024 deadline.
The issue pertains to a letter sent by the registrar of the Professor Jayashankar Telangana Agricultural University to the ICAR’s Deputy Director General R C Agarwal on March 30 last year, informing him that the Government of Telangana released 50 per cent of the State share, amounting to ₹17.13 crore, towards the payment of UGC arrears for the period from January 2016 to March 2019. He requested the ICAR to release its 50 per cent Central share based on the “due-drawn statement” submitted by the university in January 2024.
However, sources in the university said that the ICAR did not release the arrears for agricultural scientists working in Telangana and some other States, whereas scientists in 7-8 States have already received them. They claimed that this was mainly due to a lack of budget and that the ICAR is slow in releasing funds all at once.
On the other hand, ICAR sources said that arrears for 32 universities have been cleared by the Centre so far, as these were linked to the payments made by the respective State governments for their share. Since the Telangana government deposited the amount only on March 30 — despite several earlier reminders to make the contribution — there is a technical issue, which is being looked into and may be resolved soon after approval from the finance ministry.
The registrar also said that ICAR had earlier informed the university that the Central share would lapse if the State government did not release its share first by the end of the financial year 2023-24.
As the matter remains unresolved, the TASA has approached MP Eatala Rajender, who recently met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and requested her intervention for the release of funds from ICAR.
Pointing out that the issue has remained unresolved for the past six years, Rajender said that if the Central share is not received by March 31, the State’s share could be forfeited. He added that the university has already distributed the arrears from the State share to eligible scientists.