Srinagar, Feb 5 : JKPDP President and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday criticised the Jammu and Kashmir government over what she described as the sustained underfunding of Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University (BGSBU), Pir Panjal, warning that the institution is being pushed towards managed decline.
Mehbooba Mufti said the university, established to provide quality higher education and promote social and economic development in the Pir Panjal region, is now facing “institutional abandonment” due to sharp reductions in capital funding.
Official data shows that capital allocation to BGSBU stood at ?562.50 lakh in 2019–20, rose to ?848.43 lakh in 2020–21 and ?703.88 lakh in 2021–22, before declining to ?422.98 lakh in 2022–23, ?183.11 lakh in 2023–24, and ?44.00 lakh in 2024–25. The allocation increased marginally to ?187.00 lakh in 2025–26, she said.
“These figures expose a shocking pattern of neglect. Capital infusion that once crossed ?700–800 lakh during 2020–22 has been slashed to a mere ?44 lakh in 2024–25. This is not budgetary prudence. It is deliberate institutional abandonment,” she said.
Mehbooba Mufti urged the government to urgently address the funding shortfall in the upcoming budget, warning that continued neglect could cause irreparable damage to one of Pir Panjal’s key higher education institutions.
In a post on X, she said: “Deeply troubling to see the steady depletion of funds to Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University in Pir Panjal. From over ?700–800 lakh in 2020–22 to a shocking ?44 lakh in 2024–25, this is not fiscal tightening, it is institutional abandonment. BGSBU was founded to uplift a marginalised region. Starving it of funds betrays that vision and must be urgently corrected.”(KNS).
