IIT Kharagpur has told its first-year undergraduate students to “avoid using bicycles during the daytime” while travelling to and from the Nalanda complex, “considering the heat wave”.
They have been advised to travel by the institute’s bus.
Nalanda complex, an air-conditioned facility where first-year students attend classes and where they have also been allowed to study, is around 2km from their hostels.
A 2-km bicycle ride amid a heat wave can endanger the health of the students, said an IIT official.
An email, signed by dean of students Bhargav Maitra and sent to the first-year undergraduate students on Wednesday, says: “Considering the heat wave, the authority has made the following arrangements for the first-year UG students from Thursday. The proposed arrangement will work from 20th April up to 27th April 2023. After that, we shall review the situation and accordingly take a decision.”
The email says: “Also during the daytime, please avail institute bus for travel to/from Nalanda complex.”
The campus buses will also operate beyond 5pm, till midnight, in limited numbers to/from the Nalanda complex, “but you may also use your bicycle after 5pm”, the email says.
Asked why the mail was sent only to first-year students, the official said: “Second, third and fourth-year students, who are currently writing their end-semester tests, usually avail themselves of the bus ride during exams. The first-year students don’t have any exams now and they are attending classes at the Nalanda complex, which is located at some distance from their hostels. So we have advised them to avoid cycling to Nalanda from their hostels and back in this heat and, instead, take the bus ride.”
Second, third and fourth-year students are writing their papers in the Nalanda complex. Post-exams, they are going to air-conditioned rooms in the Vikramshila complex to study.
“Vikramshila is only about a kilometre from the hostels where the senior students stay,” the official said.
“We always promote cycle rides on the campus. Many students, teachers and officials use bicycle for their daily commute as it is clean. But riding a bicycle in this weather can invite health hazards”, he said.
The Telegraph reported on Thursday that the unbearable heat had posed additional challenges to the students of IIT Kharagpur, who had already been reeling from erratic power and water supply.
The excruciating heat spell has prompted the institute to make some air-conditioned rooms in academic buildings available for the students to study.