In the pressure cooker IIT Kanpur college campus, an alarming number of students have taken to drugs.
An internal inquiry of the college administration revealed that a few hundred students were taking drugs and prohibited medicines and have asked the district authorities to take action against drug peddlers.
The Director of the institute, Prof. Manindra Agarwal, has written a letter to District Magistrate Surendra Singh about the increasing problem of drug use on the campus, reported The Times of India.
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Prof. Agarwal told the newspaper: "We have sought help from the district magistrate following rise in number of students getting addicted to drugs. Drugs are being supplied to them on the campus. We have come to know that students buy drugs from peddlers outside the campus therefore we have requested the DM to start a crackdown on the peddlers."
The Director said that he was not aware of them and that easy access of outsiders into the campus is worrisome. He added that locals of Nankari and Barasirhoi villages will be provided a separate passage to reach their destinations instead of passing through the main entrance of the institute.
According to a report by The New Indian Express, local sources and villagers of nearby areas supply drugs inside the campus and even the drug mafia with the help of locals have managed to make inroads to hostel.
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"There is a locality called Nankari. The approaching road to it passes through our campus and it is always open. It is possible that peddlers are using this route and we are preparing to close this route and arrange for another passage for the residents. We do not want outsiders to access hostels and therefore have decided to provide a separate passage to the locals of Nankari and Barasirhoi villages to reach their destinations instead of passing through the main entrance of the institute," Agarwal said, reported India Today.
The District Magistrate said teams will be set up to nab the drug smugglers in the area.
Not only in IIT-K, but the drug menace is prevalent across many educational institutions in the country.
Earlier in April, three persons were arrested for allegedly supplying heroin to college students in different districts of Punjab.