Jadavpur University has appealed for ₹1.02 crore from the education department to build fences around the five water bodies on the campus, two months after a third-year student drowned in one of them.

The public works department (PWD) drew up the estimate, which was sent to the education department for approval, an official said.

Last month, the state government allocated ₹68 lakh to install more CCTV cameras on the campus.

Early this week, the state government allocated funds (₹7.6 lakh each month) so the university could hire and retain 30 security personnel and two security advisors, thereby strengthening the security on the campus.

“A proposal has been sent to the education department to get the water bodies fenced. We are awaiting a response,” vice-chancellor Chiranjib Bhattacharjee said on Saturday.

A JU official said that during a meeting with education department officials at the state secretariat Nabanna last month, they told the department about the university’s plan to construct fences around the water bodies.

The meeting at Nabanna was attended by the university’s pro-VC Amitava Datta, acting registrar Indrajit Banerjee, and other officials.

The meeting at Nabanna was held following a prod from Calcutta High Court to improve the safety and security mechanism on the campus, including installing more CCTV cameras and engaging more security personnel.

In March 2023, on the day of Holi, a former student of architecture drowned in a water body that adjoins the railway tracks.

In September 2025, during a late-evening college fest, third-year English honours student Anamika Mondal was found dead in a pond on the campus.

She is suspected to have slipped into the water through an unfenced portion of the partly guarded water body.

“The recurrence of deaths in the water bodies has triggered the need to get them fenced. Since we don’t have adequate funds, the department has been approached,” a JU official said.