JAIPUR: The University of Rajasthan shut its canteen this week after rising cooking gas and raw material costs made operations financially unviable.A notice posted outside said the price hike of cooking gas and other essential food ingredients have made it “extremely difficult to run the canteen smoothly”. The notice put up on April 14 said, “We sincerely apologise to all students, staff and visitors for the inconvenience caused by the closure of the canteen.”“Amid the current crisis, the university administration has neither reduced the rent, nor increased the rates for food items, nor provided any form of financial assistance for the operation of the canteen. Due to these circumstances, we are currently unable to provide services,” said the canteen management.Buddhiram Maan, who operated the canteen, said that the monthly operational cost for the canteen is around Rs 2 lakh, which includes rent of Rs 80,414 paid to the university, the electricity bill of around Rs 13,000 and the rest covers the cost of raw ingredients and salaries of employees.He said that the daily operational cost for the canteen stands between Rs 8,000 and Rs 9,000, while daily sales are around Rs 11,000. The average footfall at the canteen is 250 to 300 students daily.“I have been operating this canteen since 2005 and the rates of items have not been revised. Cooking oil, sugar, tea, disposable cutlery; prices of almost everything have increased in the past few months. Supply of cylinders is irregular. I wrote to the university administration five times in the last month, asking if we could get a rebate in the monthly rent till this crisis continues, but when there was no response, I had no option other than shutting the canteen down,” said Maan.Students are planning to approach the university administration to seek a resolution and resume services.Manish Meghvanshi, president of NSUI unit at University of Rajasthan, said, “The university administration must conduct talks with the canteen management at the earliest. This canteen is not only used by students but almost everyone who visits the university for administrative work or any other purpose. It is unfortunate that the canteen is being forced to shut down. We are currently in a period of high inflation; the available facilities remain unchanged.”
