KARACHI - Due to shortage of funds, the administration of Karachi University (KU) is forced to pay only partial Eid advance, comprising on half salary, to its academic and non-academic staff this year on the occasion of Eidul Fitr. The KU employees, who usually avail loan facility at the campus, are worried over the varsity funds deprivation as the public universities, including KU, are still suffering from monetary crisis due to the refusal of federal finance ministry to release the Higher Education Commission's fourth quarterly instalment for development, The Nation was told on Wednesday. A source at the KU campus said that the administration used to give full Eid advance (one month salary) for the convenience of its employees to meet the expenses of Ramadan and Eid.  "This year KU administration is not able to do so owing to paucity of funds despite soaring price-hike in the country. The KU employees, availing such facility to lessen their finical crisis on the Eid occasion, will observe the festival this year with financial burden", he said. "The present government is not aware of the fact that higher education and scientific research in present time is very expensive. Despite the marvellous efforts of the HEC to boost up the higher education in the country under the leadership of Prof Dr Attaur Rahman, the government is trying to compel him to resign by discontinuing the HEC funds. On the other hand, government intends to appoint President Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST), Dr Jawaid Leghri' as HEC chief," he added. It is pertinent to mention here that since the establishment of the HEC, it has launched a number of projects including award of 2,500 fellowships to young scientists for PhD level studies in foreign universities, setting up of digital library providing access to about 23,000 international journals and 35,000 textbooks from 220 publishers. The HEC is also embarking on a series of reforms, such as improving conditions of universities, quality of research publications, curbing such evils as plagiarism and similar other weaknesses noticed at the institutional level. A KU official, on condition of anonymity, said the Eid advance loan facility was used by hundreds of the employees, including academic staff, to fulfil their needs but this year they could not avail this facility. General Secretary Employees Welfare Association Karachi University, Farid Ahmed Siddiqui, while talking to The Nation, said that there were more than 1,700 non-academic employees working at the varsity, while amongst them hundreds of the workers avail this opportunity on the Eid.  "This year unavailability of this facility will aggravate their miseries, keeping in view the current price-hike, which has increased by two hundred per cent", he said.