The registrar of Jadavpur University has issued a notice saying “the Dengue epidemic has become quite widespread in the university” and asking all residents on the campus to follow certain measures to contain the outbreak.
A 23-year-old student of the university died of dengue at Belle Vue Clinic on September 11. He stayed at a rented accommodation close to the campus.
Two students who stay at JU hostels were admitted to hospital with dengue late last week.
Atin Ghosh, deputy mayor of Calcutta, will visit the university on Thursday to take stock of the dengue preventive measures being followed on the campus.
The measures listed in the registrar’s notice are:
- Don’t let mosquitoes breed in your surroundings.
- Keep coolers, tanks and drains clean.
- Don’t allow water stagnation.
- Wear full-sleeve clothes.
- Keep the doors and windows covered with mosquito mesh.
- Spray insect repellant in the corner.
- Use bed nets during the day-time, especially for infants.
- Use mosquito coils, vapor mats etc. to keep mosquitoes away.
Registrar Basu said: “The condition of the two hospitalised students is stable. We are urging all campus residents to follow the measures so we can avoid a spurt in cases. The deputy mayor will visit the campus.”
On September 11, mayor Firhad Hakim had accused the university of keeping the campus unclean.
He had told reporters: “What do we do? Do we send notices to a vice-chancellor? We have visited the university campus before. No effort is made to clear garbage on the campus. We will be revisiting the university to spread awareness about dengue again.”
A team from the Calcutta Municipal Corporation spotted larvae of the dengue-causing Aedes aegypti mosquito in several places on the JU campus on September 12.
The team during the visit also came across heaps of garbage that could host mosquito-breeding sites.
The CMC had earlier issued a notice to JU after its vector-control workers spotted waste dumped on a plot owned by the university.
The plot was not on the main campus, but in Shaheed Nagar, near Jadavpur police station, a JU official said.
“Residents of adjacent buildings dump garbage on the vacant plot,” said a JU official.