A Day After Citing Fund Crunch, TIFR Pays Staff Salaries in Full

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai.

(Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia)

In a dramatic turn of events, the government-run Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) has now paid its staff their full salaries. This comes just a day after the institute released a circular saying it would pay its staff only half their salaries for the month of February due to shortage of funds.

Responding to The Quint’s query, the registrar of TIFR, Wg Cdr George Antony (Retd) confirmed the sudden change in stance and said, “We are paying the full salary”.

Sources at the institute also confirmed that their full salaries have been credited to their account. The reason for this sudden turn of events is not known.

The circular issued by Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) on 6 March said, "Due to insufficient funds, all staff members and students/post-doctoral fellows of TIFR, its centres and field stations will be paid 50 percent of the net salary for the month of February immediately," TIFR registrar Wing Commander (retd) George Antony signed off in a letter to the staff.

“Remaining part of the salary will be paid when sufficient funds are available,” he wrote in the letter.

(Photo: Twitter/Arnav Mandal)

TIFR is a national centre of the Government of India under the umbrella of the Department of Atomic Energy, as well as a deemed university that awards degrees for Master's and doctoral programmes.

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The institute was founded in 1945 with support from the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust under the vision of Dr Homi Bhabha.

TIFR carries out basic research in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, computer science and science education.

The main campus is located in Mumbai, with centres in Pune, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

(With inputs from PTI)