The halls of residence at IIT Kharagpur have been asked to observe ‘self-imposed hall curfew’ from December 31 to January 3 because of the increase in Covid cases in the halls and the arrival of around 3,000 students on campus on December 26.
The institute’s hall management centre that looks after the halls of residence issued the notice.
“During hall curfew (from 6pm on December 31 to 6am on January 3) any students’ gathering in wings, corridors, open ground, common room etc inside a hall is not permitted to celebrate new year 2022,” the notice said.
Eligible students should be sent to dining halls in batches, it said.
IIT Kharagpur registrar Tamal Nath said some precautionary restrictions have been issued.
The institute has put a stay on calling students to the campus because 20 students tested positive over the past two weeks and Omicron has triggered a surge in Covid cases in the country.
The institute started reporting cases after the convocation was held on the campus on December 18.
An official said starting from December, they have called close to 5,500 students across different programmes so far and had planned to call remaining students from January. Research scholars who enrolled in July 2021, followed by first-year MTech and BTech students, were scheduled to be called from the first week of January.
“Since cases have been reported, and it is necessary to keep a watch on what is the trend prevailing across the country pertaining to the health situation, we have put the process on hold. We will decide on the way forward as the situation unfolds,” said Dhrubajyoti Sen, the dean of students.
An official said since IIT Kharagpur is a residential campus, precaution must be exercised.
Those who have tested positive are in an isolation facility and stable, he said.
“Two weeks should be enough for us to get an idea about the rate of infection among the students. During this period, we will also understand the trend of the surge across the country as our students come from all over the country,” he said.
“If the situation aggravates, they will not be able to come.”
Another official said if the Bengal government issues any advisory on whether schools and colleges would have to be shut following the spike then that would be considered.
Students are eager to return to campus because connectivity woes at home are disrupting classes and research activities cannot be conducted online.
The lack of beds at hospitals for Covid patients had prompted IIT Kharagpur to suspend recalling research scholars to the campus in April.