Lucknow, February 1: The executive council of the Lucknow University has asked the state government to transfer the grant for Allahabad University to Lucknow University, as the Allahabad University is receiving grants by the Central Government.

They have raised the demand in view of the financial scarcity being faced by the Lucknow University. As per the demand, the Uttar Pradesh government should increase its aid to the university. They have put forth the argument, that since the Allahabad University is receiving grant from the Central Government, the state government can afford to divert the grant from AU to LU.

One of the Executive members, Naresh Chandra, also met Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and Chief Secretary V K Mittal and tried to convince them to increase the annual grant to LU. The member contended that the grant was required for the upliftment of the university. As there were more than 3000 students studying here, a proper infrastructure and other facilities were needed, that in turn required adequate funds.

Further, Chandra criticised the decision taken at the start of this new session, to impose the 1995 fee structure. This has resulted in the loss of Rs 3 crore annually to the varsity.

He said the annual budget of the Lucknow University was about Rs 36 crores. Of which, Rs 10 crore was generated by self-finance courses and Rs 14 crore was the annual grant from the state government. thus, there was a deficit of about Rs 12 crores.

The executive members have hailed the initiative taken by the newly appointed Vice Chancellor R P Singh to develop the university as a centre of excellence for higher education and have joined hands with the V-C to impress upon the state government their earnest need for more funds.