The Union government has sanctioned a financial package for the Aligarh Muslim University to take care of its pressing monetary needs, an AMU official said on Thursday.

The University authorities, however, did not give the exact quantum of the package approved by the Centre for the varsity, saying the same is being calculated.

The Centre has also decided to pay a sum of over Rs 14 crore of the varsity's House Tax to the Aligarh Municipal Corporation, which had got the AMU's SBI bank account seized due to the default in its payment, AMU Registrar Abdul Hamid said.

The university received an official communication from the Ministry of Education and the University Grants Commission on Wednesday, said Hamid.

The communication informed the varsity that all its requirements pertaining to the retirement funds and allowances of its teaching and non-teaching staff have been fully restored, he added.

The university's academic programmes have been facing a major threat due to the financial cuts as funds meant for salaries for junior and senior resident doctors of its hospital too had been blocked for several months, the varsity registrar said.

These funds too now have been sanctioned in the present relief plan, he added. The registrar expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Education Minister for conceding this long-standing demand of the university.

Prime Minister Modi had last month attended the AMU's virtual centenary celebrations. He is the first prime minister in 56 years to attend an AMU event and address the varsity.

When contacted, AMU spokesman Prof Shafay Kidwai told PTI that the issue pertaining to arrears in different retirement benefits to employees had been in the limbo for about three years and the university had been urging the government to release these funds.

The letter received by the AMU yesterday has mentioned that the ministry had in principle agreed to the demand pertaining to arrears of teaching and non-teaching staff besides those pertaining to the junior and senior residents employed in medical faculty, he said. The exact amount of the financial package is being worked out and the university will immediately release these arrears funds as soon as it is received by it, he added. Source: Republic World