CHANDIGARH, July 26: The Youth Welfare Fund of Panjab University would not be used for payment of salaries of the university staff, but for the benefit of students, according to a decision of the Syndicate, which met re-cently.It also decided that affiliated colleges and the PU campus will send combined teams for participation in inter-university festivals. The Syndicate also decided to constitute a three-member coordination committee consisting of the Dean, Students' Welfare (DSW); Dean, College Development Council (DCDC), and the Director, Youth Welfare (DYW). This follows reports of disputes between the offices of the DSW and the DYW which resulted in no teams being sent to previous inter-zonal festivals.Earlier, a meeting was held by the Vice-Chancellor to look into the problems of the Department of Youth Welfare. A member of the committee, Sneh Mahajan, principal of MCM DAV College, pointed out that though Rs 15 was collected by students, the amount was spent on the staff salaries, leaving a meagre 40 per cent balance for organising inter-college and inter-zonal functions.Charanjit Chawla of SGGS College said that due to the dispute between the DYW and DSW, students had suffered and only campus students were being allowed to participate in inter-university festivals. The Vice-Chancellor agreed with the members that payment of salaries from students' money was not morally justified. Meanwhile, the Syndicate has also decided that the Punjab government would be requested to withdraw its parallel channel of Youth Welfare Department in colleges.
