IIT Kharagpur has asked all its employees to attend office at a time when workload is increasing following the phased return of students to the campus, an official of the institute said.
However, some restrictions will remain for employees who live outside the campus, especially in areas where the Covid situation is still alarming.
The institute has so far been functioning with only half the employees reporting for work.
The institute’s registrar, Tamal Nath, issued an order on October 20 asking all employees to attend office on a regular basis.
“All employees of the institute are to attend office on a regular basis…. The concerned in-charges/officers are requested to make a duty roster for deployment of required number of staff,” the notice says.
An official of the institute said the administrative and academic activities are being resumed in phases and it was not possible for the institute to run these activities with a reduced staff strength.
An official said administrative and academic activities were being resumed in phases and it was difficult to run them with reduced staff strength.
“Already, 2,100 students are back on the campus. More will be called back so they can attend online classes using the Net facilities on the campus and take part in practicals,” an officer said.
“More hostels, canteens, mess and research facilities are being reopened. We need adequate staff to oversee these operations. Besides, since we operated with a reduced work force till now, a lot of administrative work is pending. Work will suffer if the staff do not attend the office in full strength.”
However, since the pandemic is raging, the order says the heads of the departments/sections/school/centres may evolve a mechanism to restrict the entry of employees who stay outside the campus, especially in areas where the number of Covid cases is still high.
“They may be asked to work from home, if required. Meetings as far as possible can be conducted online/ video conferencing and personal meetings with the visitors… are to be avoided,” the notice says.
The research scholars who are on the campus can enter the academic area subject to the approval of the supervisor and head of the department concerned.
“The entry into the IIT Kharagpur campus will be restricted. Only those who have any business with the campus community will be permitted to enter the campus subject to verification at the entry gate,” the notice says.
The institute had last week received a notice from the education ministry, seeking feedback about the present status of opening up of the campus for in-person activities. The notice was sent to all IITs and NITs.