Students living in many of the hostels at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) have been facing the peculiar problem of bed bugs for the past few months. The nuisance has aggravated so much that many students, unable to sleep in their parasite-infested rooms, have moved to the homes of their relatives and friends.
Madan Yadav, a student who stays in Sabarmati Hostel, said, “The bed bugs are everywhere, from the bed to the cupboard to book shelves. I suffered from skin rashes and frantic itching and couldn’t sleep at night.” He said he has moved into his relatives’ house in Dwarka due to the “psychological trauma” he suffered.
Amit Ravi, a history research scholar who stays in Jhelum Hostel, complained that his daily routine has been thrown out of gear. “I am unable to sleep in my room. I tried the pesticides available in the market but the solution was short-lived. So I got pest control done in my room by an expert firm for which I had to shell `800 from my pocket,” he said.
The students complain that the problem is affecting their performance and accuse the administration of not doing much to rid the rooms of the parasites. “The matter was brought to the notice of the administration promptly. We have been complaining for so many months now but the authorities are moving at snail’s pace,” said research scholar Raj Kumar Sharma.
Associate dean of students, Prof. Sachidanand Sinha, said though pest control sprays were used in the affected rooms, the problem re-occurred, affecting at least 200 students.
“It is for the first time in the history of the university that bed bugs were discovered in hostel rooms around three-four months back. The pesticide we used couldn’t help much. Since the bugs spread to other rooms, we had to take the matter to the level of the University and General Financial Rules (GFR) to use specialised pest control,” he said. Tenders were floated and a firm was chosen a few days back to carry out the task of spraying effective pesticide, Prof. Sinha said.
Deputy registrar S.P. Singh said the firm has been asked to give a demonstration in one room before it is carried out in all 17 hostels.
“We have to keep in mind the side-effects of the chemicals being used. Once the demonstration is approved by the administration, pest control will be carried out in all hostels,” he said.