Students spot croc in varsity campus

Vadodara: M S University has decided to cover the lower bridge connecting its science faculty campus to the D N Hall ground with a net.
The decision to cover the entire stretch of the lower bridge with a net was taken after the university officials on Friday received a representation from a students group that they had spotted a crocodile near the lower bridge.

The lower bridge is located above the ‘bhukhi nullah’ stretch, a tributary of Vishwamitri river, that passes through the university campus.

Vishwamitri itself is known for healthy population of crocodiles. As per the last census that was done in 2015, there were 260 crocodiles that were thriving right in the middle of Vadodara city.

“I had received calls from a couple of students from the Faculty of Science on Wednesday that they have seen a crocodile near the lower bridge. The crocodile was there even when I reached the spot,” said Saloni Mishra, vice-president (VP) of MSU Students Union (MSUSU) who led a group of students from science faculty to make the representation before MSU’s in-charge registrar N K Ojha.

“The lower bridge is used by many a students, who do not have a vehicle, as a pathway on regular basis as it is a short-cut between the science faculty premises and the D N Hall ground. But the situation worsens, especially during monsoon, when the sewage of the ‘bhukhi nullah’ starts flowing out,” she said.

Although Mishra, who along with former general secretary and VP Priyanka Patel, faculty representatives said that earlier too students have spotted crocodile in this stretch, MSU’s in-charge registrar N K Ojha said that it is for the first time that a crocodile was spotted near the lower bridge.