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The NIT campus in Adityapur on Friday. Picture by Animesh Sengupta
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Three years and nine deaths later, National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Adityapur is taking steps — er, baby steps — to prevent student binge drinking, believed to be one of the primary triggers behind often fatal accidents on and outside campus.
Two days after first-year mechanical engineering student Uttam Kumar died in hospital of injuries received in a fall from a hostel roof, NIT has decided to keep addiction tabs with surprise room inspections, call parent meetings if necessary and take police help against alcohol-induced vandalism outside college.
According to sources at NIT, on the penultimate day of the tech cradle’s annual fest Ojass-2012 last Saturday, 18-year-old Uttam — apparently in an inebriated state — tried to clamber down a water pipe from the three-storey I-Hostel instead of taking the stairway. He slipped, fell, received head injuries and died of haemorrhage later.
The misadventure has come as an eye-opener for the premier institute that has seen nine student casualties, including the recent incident, since 2009. While three students had had committed suicide, three drowned in the Asangi check-dam in the absence of a boundary wall and two were electrocuted at a campus fountain.
Till now, NIT had always intervened and pleaded leniency with police if any student faced action for unruly behaviour under the influence of alcohol. “No longer,” said spokesperson Malay Neeraj. “Students indulging in acts of vandalism after consumption of liquor will be treated like any other offender. The institute will not make any effort to save a student from being prosecuted,” he added.
Neeraj said they had even requested the Seraikela-Kharsawan district not to spare errant students outside campus. “East Singhbhum district police too will be approached since students often visit Jamshedpur (where they drink at bars),” the spokesperson said.
Admitting that there had been lapses on NIT’s part in controlling students, he said: “We are in charge of over 3,500 young lives. The time has come to pull up our socks. We will act tough.”
NIT director Rajneesh Srivastava pointed out that these stringent measures were for the safety of students.
Rajesh Prakash Sinha, the officer in charge of RIT police station, said the proposed steps had become necessary to rein in students. “We will co-operate with the college administration,” he added.
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