NIT Durgapur has asked the PhD scholars returning to the institute from August 2 to bring certificates and “show through CoWin” that they have been fully vaccinated to enter the campus.

A notice signed by the dean of students’ welfare at the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Durgapur, said “at the gate, they may be asked to show through the COWIN website also” to verify that they had received both doses.

The institute last month had asked those returning to the campus to give an undertaking that they had received both doses. Now, with cases of fake jab camps and fake certificates being reported from several places, the institute wants to authenticate the students’ undertakings.

“We are exercising caution following reports of these instances. What if a student, desperate to return to the campus, procures such certificates to secure entry? The details regarding registration and Aadhaar are being run through the portal to verify their claims as part of a random scanning mechanism,” said an institute official.

Entry is being allowed only if those managing the gates are satisfied with the scanning.

Last month, cases of fake vaccination camps were reported from Kasba and Sonarpur.

“Such cases might have happened elsewhere. We get students from all over India. So, extra caution has to be exercised... At a time when there is a dearth of vaccines owing to shortage of supply, acts of desperation on the part of students eager to return to the campus cannot be ruled out,” said an official of the institute.

The scholars’ desperation stems from concerns that their work is stuck in the final stage of research because of the lack of access to laboratories and equipment, said a teacher.

The Telegraph reported on August 3 that the Centre had till August 2 provided around 497 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to the states, nearly 20 million short of the 516 million doses it had said it expected to supply by July 31.

In April, the Durgapur institute had been forced to send all the research scholars — who had been called back to campus in February — back home following a spurt in Covid cases on the campus.

On July 17, the institute had asked the project and research scholars to return to the institute after giving an undertaking that they had taken both vaccine doses.

“We want to maintain the maximum possible caution,” said NIT Durgapur director Anupam Basu.

“Even as the scholars are being called subject to recommendation from the supervisor and the head of the department, maximum caution is being observed while allowing entry,” said an official.

The students have been asked to bring an RT-PCR negative report, which is not older than 72 hours.

IIT Kharagpur, while recalling the 500 BTech students facing resource constraints because of lack of access to smartphones or laptops and unstable connectivity at home, has made it mandatory for the returnees to have taken at least the first dose of the Covid vaccine.