Students of NIT Durgapur should focus on developing personal protective equipment, ventilators and sterilisers that India has been found wanting during the coronavirus pandemic, institute director Anupam Basu told students in a video message on Monday.

“India today is reeling under the absence or paucity or the lack of the PPEs, lack of indigenously developed ventilators, lack of good amount of sterilisers. In spite of all its negativities, the coronavirus has pointed out where we can really contribute to make India a stronger nation by focusing on proper technological development to develop these facilities. The development, that the country needs, the development that the poor people need,” Basu said in the message posted on the institute's website.

He urged students to view these difficulties as challenges that a budding engineer or technologist should strive to solve or overcome. “As a technologist or as a scientist you can see that the coronavirus has actually attacked our medical and technological infrastructure. These are difficulties, but at the same time these difficulties are pointing out to the opportunities. It has thrown us a challenge to better our medical and technological infrastructure,” he said.

Basu, a professor of computer science and engineering department at IIT Kharagpur, is on lien to helm the Durgapur institute.

He posted the message to announce that the summer vacation had been advanced because of the lockdown.

In the course of his address, he spoke of the situation in the country and how it is running short of facilities that are a must to contain the pandemic. “As more and more coronavirus cases are being reported, the shortage of essential facilities is coming out in the open. If we reach the stage of community transfer, I apprehend the impact of the pandemic would not go away easily,” Basu said. “So, I urged students to channelise their energies towards developing these facilities. We have a strong biotechnology department. This would be recognised as a contribution to make India a stronger nation.”

Basu told students in the message: “You will be happy to note that in other IITs and NITs our teachers are developing gadgets so that we can provide appropriate technological support to the country at this moment.”

In the message, Basu told third-year students that the institute was making alternative arrangements for their internships, which have become uncertain because of the lockdown.

“The faculties will give them assignments that they will have have to work on as part of their internships.”