KATHMANDU, Dec 26: The University Grants Commission (UGC) padlocked by Tribhuvan University (TU) employees almost three weeks ago, was reopened on Wednesday.
UGC officials entered the office by breaking the padlock without the consent of the Tribhuvan University Employees´ Association (TUEA).[break]
"We broke the lock since the TUEA did not withdraw its strike even after the government clearly refused to provide budget for uniform allowances," Ganesh Gurung, chairman of the UGC, said. "However, we will continuously press the government for providing budget for uniform allowances. In fact, we have already recommended to the Ministry of Education (MoE) for this."
The TUEA has flayed the UGC for defying its strike by breaking the padlock. "We were not informed about the breaking of the lock," Bhoj Basnet, president of the TUEA, told Republica on Wednesday. "We will announce a fresh agitation against this by holding a meeting tomorrow (Tuesday)."
The TUEA had padlocked the UGC on December 7 demanding uniform allowances at par with civil servants. The government had decided to provide an annual allowance of Rs 7,500 each to civil servants two years ago.
Although the MoE has written to the Ministry of Finance to provide uniform allowances to university employees, the latter has turned down the recommendation citing budget crunch.