IIT-G director violated quarantine rules? notice served, probe on

Guwahati: In a surprising development, the Kamrup (rural) district administration has ordered an inquiry and issued show-cause notice to the director of IIT Guwahati for allegedly not following quarantine rules and regulations.

It has been alleged that IIT Guwahati director Prof T G Sitharam, who came from Bangalore on June 8, had not been following any quarantine norms posing a direct threat to over 300 students, teachers and employees of the prestigious institute of the country.

The director had been allegedly attending various sessions with his senior colleagues and was allegedly seen attending a video conference with Union human resource minister Ramesh Pokhriyal along with other professors of the institute in close proximity.

It is also broadly alleged that the IITG director attended meetings with some of his senior colleagues of the institute ignoring all standing norms. The director, who reached the institute from Bangalore after a long gap of more than three months, allegedly attended several close-door meetings with deputy director, senior professors, deans of the institute since June 8.

Meanwhile, Dibakar Kalita, president of Kamrup district unit of the All Assam Students Union, has demanded a high-level inquiry into the entire episode.

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When contacted, Kamrup (Rural) deputy commissioner Kailash Karthik, said, “Yes, we did receive such allegations and immediately after that we issued a show-cause notice to the director. Later, we also conducted a quick inquiry, led by senior officer Manash Saikia.”

“Within 24 hours, we received a quick reply from the media cell of IIT Guwahati which read that the director has been attending only online meetings without the presence of any other person,” said the DC. According to the press release, the DC added that Sitharam had undergone COVID-19 test 72 hours before boarding the flight and since he is of 60+ age, he went for home quarantine as per the revised standard operating procedures.

“Moreover his house is completely isolated as well,” he added.

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EastMojo even reached to the media cell of IIT Guwahati who then forwarded a press release regarding the incident.

It stated that any news regarding this topic is “false and unverified.” The statement added, “There has been no violation of protocol whatsoever by anyone. The director is on self-isolation on his return to the campus last week and has tested negative for COVID-19.”

The Kamrup (Rural) DC also informed EastMojo that more inquiries are underway and the district administration is expecting reports of such probes soon.

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