IIM Calcutta asks students to vacate campus amid COVID-19 surge

A committee member informed that Boarders of Tagore Hostel and Annexe Hostel that fall outside the ambit of the containment zones have been asked to leave the campus by January 9.

Amid the rising cases of the novel coronavirus and its contagious Omicron variant, the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta has asked its students residing in hostels that have been declared containment zones to leave the campus by January 9. According to the reports, the decision has been taken by the institute’s ad-hoc committee as the number of COVID-19 patients has significantly gone up. Over the past few days, more than 50 students have tested positive for COVID-19 on the campus.

A committee member informed that Boarders of Tagore Hostel and Annexe Hostel that fall outside the ambit of the containment zones have been asked to leave the campus by January 9.

A notice has been issued to the students that read, “All the students should vacate the campus latest by 9th January positively.” It asked the MBA (second year) students to take their belongings with them and hand over the room to the hostel administration. “The MBA (first-year) students should vacate the room and put their belongings in a common room.”

An IIM-C official said the order would be effective for Tata Halls, Ramanujan Hostel, Lake View Hostel and New Hostel once the Calcutta Municipal Corporation lifted the containment restrictions.

He said they readied an order for vacating all the hostels on Monday afternoon. “But by that time, the civic body announced four hostels as the containment zones. So, the order is now effective for the facilities that are only in the non-containment zone,” said the official.

Until the campus is vacated, no student is allowed to go outside the premises. Going out only for essential purposes, including medical emergencies is allowed. Manish Thakur, the chairperson of the IIM-C’s Covid task force, said they were taking all steps to check the spread. Another committee member informed that students have been asked to head for home because if more travel restrictions were imposed in the coming days, it would be inconvenient for them to reach home.

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