Three-pronged strategy to check drug menace at IIT-Kanpur

After coming to know that many students of the premier Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, (IIT-K) are given to drugs and subsequently identifying 25 of them, the institute has introduced a three-pronged strategy to check the menace.

Prof Manindra Agarwal, acting director of the IIT-K, while confirming it said the exact number of drug users was still to be ascertained. It could be still higher than the number assessed so far, he added.

Agarwal further said abnormal behaviour of the students in the classroom and in hostels besides reports of the security staff confirmed the growing menace in the institute.

As per the strategy, the institute got a new link road completed for the people going to the city. The road will not touch the hostel area and it will not be easy for drug suppliers to contact the students, he said. The district authorities have assured the institute that rural people will be asked to use the new road.

Secondly, an awareness programme will be launched on the campus to check students falling prey to dug menace and they will also be counselled.

The director confirmed that some girls were also using drugs. He said the situation was alarming and all efforts would be made to protect the premier institute and its students.

The fact came to light during a secret survey jointly conducted by IIT-K professors and district officials. During the survey, nearly 25 students were identified as frequent drug users and banned medicines. Drugs were taken mixing with ‘surti’ (a mixture of tobacco and lime), cigarettes and beer.

The girls residing in hostels also revealed that a few girl students were also addicted to drug and demanded regular checking in the girls’ hostels.

District magistrate Surendra Singh, who inspected the IIT-K campus, said the district administration will assist the IIT-K in checking the drug menace.

“A foolproof strategy has been framed to nab drug suppliers who were supplying drugs to the IIT-K students,” he added.

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The IIT-K director urged the district magistrate that the alternative road constructed for the rural people should be opened for use. At present, the rural people were using 1.02-kilometre long road for going to the city side. The road passed through the campus and connected the villages with the GT Road and provided easy access to the drug peddlers.

“Commuters from the villages often got mixed with the students and some of them supplied drugs to the students,” the IIT-K authorities told the DM.

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According to police, some employees of the institute and security guards also supplied drugs to the students for hefty amount.

It was only two months back when the police arrested a security guard and recovered two kilogram of ‘ganja’ (hashish form of cannabis) from his possession. Later, he was removed from the duty, Kalyanpur police sources said.

The IIT-K director said passes will be issued to the guardians who came to take their wards from the central school and that the entry of any outsiders to the campus will be banned.