The Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) has beaten the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) second time in a row. Last year, the GADVASU had received Rs 10 crore while PAU got only Rs 7 crore. This time too, PAU managed to get only Rs 5 crore while GADVASU has been given Rs 8 crore in the state budget by Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal.

But there is one thing that binds both the institutes. Going by the demands they had put forward to the state government, the allocation is much below their expectations. Nevertheless, welcoming the state government's gesture Dr V K Taneja GADVASU Vice-Chancellor said, "Any kind of aid is welcome. We are setting up two new colleges that is — dairy sciences and fisheries. We need to develop a lot of infrastructure. We had requested the state government to give us at least Rs 20 crore but Rs 8 crore is also a welcome amount. The balance money will be raised through other schemes." Talking about the institute's grant being higher than that of PAU, Dr Taneja said, "There is no comparison with PAU. It is an old institute that has entire infrastructure in place while we are still struggling to gain our foothold in the region. We need money not only for research but also to build a new and strong infrastructure. We actually need more money."

Meanwhile, the man who prepared research blueprints and has virtually bailed out PAU from the financial crunch as far as research is concerned-- Dr P S Minhas, Director Research, PAU, refuses to comment. Meanwhile, comptroller A C Rana had submitted a budgetary demand of Rs 178.75 crore to the state government. With this, the deficit amount remains huge.