Patna: In a major relief for more than 50,000 serving and retired teachers and non-teaching staff of Bihar’s 13 conventional universities, the higher education department on Friday released salary and pension grants for the three-month period from March to May.Higher education director N K Agrawal said Rs 1,000 crore had been released to the universities following approval from the finance department. The funds will be used to clear pending salary and pension dues of employees and retirees.The grants have been allocated among all 13 universities, including Patna University, Magadh University, B R A Bihar University, L N Mithila University, Patliputra University and Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University.Agrawal said the release was expected to facilitate payment of three months’ arrears to staff and pensioners at the earliest.As the annual budgets of universities for 2026-27 are yet to be approved by the govt, the grants have been sanctioned on the basis of allocations released in Feb 2026.The director said universities had been directed to submit utilisation certificates for the grants within one month.The move is expected to bring relief to thousands of employees and pensioners who had been awaiting the release of funds for several months.—
