Aug. 29: A Calcutta Municipal Corporation team today spotted larvae of the dengue-causing Aedes aegypti mosquito at two places on the Jadavpur University campus.

The team also came across heaps of garbage at several spots which are potential breeding sites of mosquitoes.

At least 20 people staying on the JU campus - including children of employees - have been infected with the dengue virus over the past three weeks, campus sources said. Several are still under treatment.

Atin Ghosh, the mayoral council member in charge of health who was leading the inspection team, blamed the outbreak on the lack of cleanliness on the campus.

"We saw larvae of the Aedes aegypti mosquito at two places on the campus," a member of the team said.

"Construction waste, broken furniture, porcelain sinks and bathroom tubs were dumped at several places. All these are potential breeding grounds of mosquitoes as water tends to accumulate in them during the monsoon."

The area around the teachers' quarters, New Boys' Hostel, parking lot and the department of life science and biotechnology are among the dirtiest spots, the team member said.

The civic team met registrar Pradip Kumar Ghosh and discussed with him ways to clean up the campus.

"The university authorities told us that the agency they had hired to remove solid waste from the campus was not doing its job properly," mayoral council member Ghosh said.

He then called up his colleague in the mayoral council who looks after solid waste management and requested him to send some people and trucks to remove the garbage from the campus.

"The university has agreed to bear the cost of removal of waste by CMC trucks. The process has started and a lot of waste was removed this evening," an official said.

A doctor in the civic health department said a ward-level health team was visiting the JU campus every other day to spray larvicide and destroy potential mosquito-breeding sites.

"Over the past three weeks, our ward and borough-level teams together have visited JU 16 times," an official said.

Vice-chancellor Suranjan Das said a "comprehensive plan" would be drawn up to keep the campus clean. "There is a plan to beautify the area as well," he said.

Das and other senior officials of the university inspected the area around the teachers' quarters on Monday.

Presi team

Presidency University has formed a committee tasked with keeping the campus clean. The team includes teachers, non-teaching employees, students and the chief vector control officer of the civic body.