IIT Kharagpur has put on hold its decision to call back 300 final-year undergraduate students and around 3,000 research scholars following detection of fresh Covid cases on the campus.

The 300 final-year students, who need to attend in-person lab classes, were set to return to the campus from April 16. The research scholars have been coming back in batches since December.

Registrar Tamal Nath said: “We are deferring the recall of BTech students for some time considering the circumstances. We will review the situation in early May and then take a call on the way forward. The return of the research scholars is also being deferred for some time. We will review the situation later and proceed.”

The director had on March 17 announced that the fourth-year students would be brought back from April 16 and the recall of PhD students that was already underway would be expedited.

An official of the institute said the situation had drastically changed after mid March. After a pause of several months, cases are being detected afresh on the campus.

“Cases are rising sharply across the country, too. In this situation it would not be advisable to recall students. What if they catch the virus during transit?” the official said.

Another reason that prompted the authorities to defer the plan to bring students back to the campus was insufficient medical facilities in the town. “BC Roy Technology Hospital on the campus will not be able to deal with a rise in cases. The hospitals and safe houses outside the campus are all occupied,” the official said.

NIT roster

NIT Durgapur has announced that office attendance of the teachers and other staff members have been made optional till further notice, following “resurgence of Covid-19 incidents.