IIT-Kharagpur to go for hostel fees
IIT-Kharagpur said the institute has decided to charge students the mess and hostel overhead fees because students facing poor connectivity at home will have to return to the campus where online classes will be held. The reason for charging the fees was mentioned in a letter to the students’ senate. The letter also mentioned the infrastructural facilities that are being created to ensure hassle-free online classes. The letter to the students also highlighted the points that were considered while deciding about the present fee structure.
Exam fees to be refunded to students
The West Bengal University of Technology will give half or full refund of exam fee to deserving graduating students following a demand for a rollback on the ground that the exams were cancelled because of Covid pandemic. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT) registrar Partha Pratim Lahiri issued a notice saying that the university has decided to refund the half/full amount of exam fee to the deserving students based on the applications addressed to the university and submitted to the college authority concerned. All private engineering and management colleges in West Bengal are affiliated to the university. The announcement by the MAKAUT has been welcomed widely both by the students and the teachers as well in the state.
Awareness drive by Kolkata Police
The Kolkata Police has launched a campaign in housing complexes and standalone buildings asking residents to monitor their blood oxygen saturation level at least once a day with pulse oximeters. Using loud hailers, officers of the police stations are asking residents to keep tabs on their blood oxygen saturation level, which can drop if a person is Covid infected. Leaflets containing information on how to use pulse oximeters and when to contact health officials are being distributed to the residents. ‘’Our main targets are senior citizens with comorbidities, which include ailments of the lungs, heart and kidneys,’’ said a police officer.
Trial run of East-West Metro signal system
The East-West Metro on Monday started the trial of its automatic train control and signalling system that has minimal role of the driver, said an official. The East-West Metro corridor has been designed in a way that trains will stop automatically at a station and its doors will be synced with the platform screen doors. Till now, the onus is on drivers to stop trains at stations in a way that the two sets of doors are perfectly aligned. ‘’The first automatic train operation test was carried out on Monday. There was no glitch. More trials and fine-timing are required for the desired functioning,’’ said a Metro official.
pranab mondal
Our correspondent in West Bengal pranabm@newindianexpress.com