KP Allocates Rs. 3.1 Billion for Agriculture University

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has finally approved the funding to establish an agriculture university in Dera Ismail Khan (D.I. Khan).

According to details, the provincial government has approved Rs. 3.109 billion for the university which will be set up by upgrading the Agriculture Department of Gomal University.

It will stretch over 1,000 kanals and the land will be acquired from Gomal University in the coming months. Out of Rs. 3.109 billion, Rs. 1.6 billion will be utilized during FY 2022-23.

Speaking in this regard, Vice Chancellor (VC) Gomal University, Dr. Masrur Ilahi, said that the establishment of an agriculture university has been a longstanding demand of the people of D.I. Khan.

He acknowledged that the region needed an agriculture university. The university could not be established in the past due to the absence of funds. However, the provincial government has finally taken a step in the right direction.

VC Gomal University added that the KP government has also instituted a committee to sort out the distribution of assets between Gomal University and the Agriculture University.

The committee is headed by Chief Commissioner DI Khan. Other members include Secretary of Agriculture Department, Secretary of Higher Education Department (HED), and VC Gomal University.

Dr. Masrur also said that many universities are struggling to meet their expenses since the Higher Education Commission (HEC) reduced the annual funding of higher education institutions, adding that universities are also finding it difficult to pay salaries to their employees.

In a separate development from last month, VCs of all public sector universities had demanded the government increase HEC’s annual funding in the annual budget for FY 2022-23.

The government has allocated Rs. 65 billion to the HEC as a non-development expenditure. However, the VCs had demanded Rs. 104 billion.

Overall, the government has allocated a total of Rs. 109.4 billion to the HEC for FY 2022-23, of which Rs. 65 billion is for non-development expenditure and Rs. 44.4 billion is for development schemes.



Get Alerts

Follow ProPakistani to get latest news and updates.


ProPakistani Community

Join the groups below to get latest news and updates.



>