The IIT Kharagpur campus will remain closed for six days from January 18 to 23 to break the chain of spread of Covid.
The institute has recorded a spike of cases from late December, forcing the hall management centre to introduce restrictions on inter-hall movements in the twenty halls of residence from December 31.
By imposing a lockdown, the institute has increased the restrictive measures, said an IIT official.
“The institute shall remain closed from January 18 (Tuesday) to January 23 (Saturday). Faculty members/ researchers including those working in the projects/ other scholars/fellows who are carrying out research…. are permitted or advised to work from home/ hostels as the case may be during the period,” says a notice signed by registrar Tamal Nath.
During the self-imposed hall-curfew in place from December 31 to January 17, a research scholar on extreme urgency of attending laboratory for a few hours, was required to write an email highlighting his/her need to the warden of the hall, keeping the supervisor also in loop.
After getting consent from the supervisor, the warden could permit the scholar for a few hours to visit his/ her laboratory.
Monday’s notice says: “The academic campus of the institute will be under complete lockdown. No faculty/student/staff/other members (except employees attached to the emergency services)/ project staff/construction workers etc will be permitted to enter the academic campus area of the institute”.
Students/ project staff will not be allowed to go out of their respective hall of residence.
Private canteen/night canteen in the hostels will remain closed during the six-day period.
“All educational, training, research, coaching institutions, schools/recreation clubs shall remain closed….However all mess of the halls of residence and food canteens of VSRC (Vikram Sarabhai Research Complex) boarders (within VSRC campus) will remain open,” the notice says.
Only those who have any business within the campus will be permitted to enter the campus subject to verification at all the three entry gates.
Registrar Nath said although the volume of cases is waning, cases are still being reported and the shutting down of the campus became imperative to break the chain of infection.
“This will help us in containing the spread further,” Nath told The Telegraph.
Sources said cases have spiked following a combined impact of the institute holding the convocation on campus on December 18, a section of students going to Calcutta to celebrate Christmas and close to 3,000 students being recalled between from December 26 to 30.
An IIT official said, last week they introduced a practice whereby 20 students in each of the halls of residence on a given day were being issued passes so that they could move around the campus for a period of three hours and relax.
“This stands scrapped now,” he said.
IIT Kharagpur recalled close to 6,000 students till late December in the hope of starting classes in hybrid mode – allowing some students to attend the lectures in person, while the others will have the sessions live-streamed to them –from mid January.
