Higher Education: Dedicated pension cell to operate

Bhubaneswar: Department of Higher Education will have a dedicated pension cell & must maintain integrity and transparency in adherence with 5T governance, directed Atanu sabyasachi Nayak , Higher Education Minister.

Minister Nayak reviewed various activities of the department in details yesterday.

A dedicated pension cell should start functioning immediately and the employees must receive their pension on the very day of retirement. All the pending pension cases must be cleared up within specific time line, he directed.

All out efforts be made to fill up the vacancies of teaching and non-teaching staff in the colleges. He impressed upon the officers to create a database of all the faculty of the Government aided /GIA colleges through a software so that the vacancy can be monitored and rationalized.

He also reviewed the status of RUSA and World Bank funding, students scholarships and others. A detailed discussion was made on further improvement in standard of higher education and development of educational Institutions in the state.

The provision / allotment of funds in different heads be utilised properly in due time. Measure needs to be taken to achieve higher NAAC ranking and participation in National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) was also discussed.
While advised the officers of the department to maintain absolute integrity and transparency, Nayak has warned for any deviation to this will not be tolerated.

He has asked the secretary Higher Education to personally review the funds pending in various colleges and ensure its early utilization.
Among others, Arabinda Agrawal Secretary Higher Education, other departmental ifficers were present in the review meeting held in Lok Seva Bhawan.