UET refuses to let campus turn into quarantine

LAHORE:University of Engineering & Technology (UET) Lahore has informed the Sheikhupura Deputy Commissioner (DC) that while the university is fully committed to cooperating with the government regarding setting up of a quarantine facility on its Kala Shah Kaku (KSK) campus but it cannot provide the whole campus for the facility.

In a letter to the DC, UET Registrar Muhammad Asif said that a number of faculty members and non-teaching staff had been living in the staff colony on the KSK premises while essential administrative and support staff were also performing their duties to meet the minimum working requirements of the campus as per the directions of Higher Education Department (HED) Punjab.

It is learnt that a police officer had also asked the university to provide accommodation to around 400 policemen who would be performing duties at the quarantine center. However, the UET registrar said the university could not provide residence or accommodation to the police officials. A senior UET official, seeking anonymity, said the university could not accommodate police officials in its administration block and would definitely help the government setting up a quarantine center at two of hostels on the KSK campus. He further said the demand to provide accommodation for around 400 policemen was quite unrealistic keeping in view international SOPs to set up quarantine centers.

Furthermore, the letter also reads that, a number of laboratories on the KSK campus had equipment worth hundreds of millions of rupees that needed continuous look after and maintenance by the technical staff.

Meanwhile, it seems the government’s move of converting student hostels into quarantine facilities has not been received well by the universities. Punjab University Academic Staff Association (PUASA) president Prof Dr Mumtaz Anwar in a social media post invited opinion of the university’s faculty members over the government’s move and almost everyone opposed expressing serious concerns over it.

“It's dangerous for the health of other people. If they want to make quarantine then they have to make it out of the city,” wrote one PU faculty member. Another teacher noted, “It's not a good idea. I think it would be challenging to disinfect the hostels later and will put the health of our students, teachers and staff at risk”.

Yet another teacher wrote, “Hostels are not built for quarantine purpose having all purposeful modalities - a very pathetic approach of the Punjab government - why don’t make Punjab Assembly hostels (as quarantine centers)- more ventilated than student hostels.”

“Our hostel buildings (at Punjab University) are too old for the quarantine centre. The buildings have by poor sewerage systems, pits, cracks, holes that are ideal reservoirs of the microbes such as viruses and bacteria; unfortunately if it happens so we cannot be able to clear the hostels for years and the residents will suffer for ages,” wrote another teacher. Another teacher suggested that following in the footsteps of the Sindh government, the Punjab government can identify newly built plazas/ buildings to be converted them into quarantines.

online classes: Punjab University (PU) Vice Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad has instructed the relevant officials to make necessary arrangements for online classes of the students from the next week.