VNIT battles dengue

Afew days after 58 students of Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT) tested positive for dengue and a mathematics professor, residing on campus, succumbed to the life-threatening disease, the entire institute has gone into a state of shock and mourning. Now that the reputation of the institute is at stake, the management of VNIT is taking measures to avoid a repeat in future. We spoke to the director Dr Narendra Chaudhari on the severity of the situation and learnt the measures being taken to fight the situation...

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
Since dengue is a vector-borne disease, VNIT is now ensuring that the campus environment remains clean. Director Chaudhari says, "There are about 50 old trees, vines, creepers and shrubs behind the hostel, where water-logging generally occurs in the rainy season. Some trees completely lean on the hostel building, where mosquitoes generally breed. We started to cut the trees, with a plan to plant trees with thin trunks. Instead, we were slapped with a notice from NMC to stop the work. This was the time three of our students were on ventilator. We then wrote a letter to NMC for 'the permission to cut down the remaining trees, but there has been no response. Hence we are focusing on cleaning the environment and keeping a check on water logging to avoid any such
incident in future."

FIGHT AGAINST DENGUE
Taking things forward, the director has also asked the staff to take care of the cleanliness inside the hostel.Dr Chaudhari says, "We have removed all the coolers from the hostel and the janitors regularly clean the premises. Though,many students continue to complain about mosquitoes inside the hostel due to the trees and bushes nearby,we have asked students to use mosquito nets and repellents etc.So, our fight is going on. I would also like to inform that the situation is under control."