The University of Delhi (DU) will be borrowing Rs 950 crore from the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) for infrastructural development and creation of capital assets. The borrowed money will be used for creating academic blocks in two areas – Roshapural and Surajmal Vihar, among many other things, reported a leading news agency.
The land for the blocks had been acquired by the varsity long back. The varsity will be constructing new buildings for the faculty of technology, new girls’ hostel at Daka complex and two academic blocks at the Delhi School of Economics as part of its infrastructure expansion efforts. Besides, this, the varsity will carry out renovation work of Gwyer Hall Hostel, Art Faculty, Jubilee hostel, Convocation hall, Tagore Hall, and Shankar Lal Hall among various buildings on the south campus.
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The proposal on the loan from HEFA first came up for discussion during the Delhi University’s Executive Council meeting on March 25. The varsity cited limited allocation of funds for capital asset creation as the reason for mulling loans from HEFA. The Education ministry has said that all major infrastructure projects of varieties will be funded through HEFA only and no funds will be released as budgetary support. According to the HEFA funding pattern, the varsity will have to repay the loan in 20 half-yearly instalments in 10 years.
The borrowing from HEFA will come with an interest rate of 7 per cent per annum. The finance committee of Delhi University had initially approved a loan of Rs 1,045.75 crore, however, on the advice of the education ministry, it was reduced to Rs 950 crore. The varsity has also been allocated Rs 120 crore for the construction and creation of other infrastructure projects under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) scheme.
Many teachers have expressed apprehension about the new funding model fearing that the burden of the loan would be passed on to the student, the report added. DU recently hiked its university development fees (UDF) by Rs 300 taking them to Rs 900. Additionally, the varsity has added several additional categories to the fee structure including the university facilities charges and an EWS-supporting university fund.
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