In a letter addressed to Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, a concerned citizen, Anindyabandhu Guha, who is a school teacher and Right to Information (RTI) activist based in Kolkata has exposed alleged mismanagement and misuse of public funds at Visva-Bharati Universtiy’s Publishing Department. The letter brings to light allegations like misuse of resources, questionable personnel appointments and a lack of expert supervision leading to colossal financial losses.
“RTI documents are self-explainatory and demonstrate that Visva-Bharati delegated a large number of non-technical personnel who have neither publishing expertise nor book production experience, nor a position within the Publishing Department,” alleges the letter, claiming, “The irresponsible misuse of human resource has resulted in colossal financial losses for the publishing department.”
Adding to the financial burden, these non-designated employees, as per the RTI documents, receive triple the House Rent Allowance and double the Transport Allowance since they are purportedly stationed in Kolkata without sanctioned posts. However, it allegedly appears that these individuals are not actively involved in book production and sales, which is the primary responsibility of the Publishing Department.
Furthermore, the letter raises serious doubts about the alleged lack of expert supervision in the publication of books by Visva-Bharati. The author claims that over the past five years of the current Vice-Chancellor, Bidyut Chakraborty's tenure, only one new book has been published, with the surprising revelation that the author was Sri Jogen Chaudhury, not Rabindranath Tagore. This raises concerns among book purchasers about the quality and authenticity of the publications from the renowned institution.
“We, the purchasers of Visva-Bharati books, are also being defrauded because the current books are not supervised by expert,” writes Anindyabandhu Guha.
Expressing concern over these alleged irregularities, Guha, has urged the Education Minister's office to thoroughly investigate the situation and take appropriate measures to safeguard public funds and the reputation of Visva-Bharati.
