The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Demand for tightening security

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 17, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Demand for tightening security

Staff Reporter

Academics raise concern over break-in

‘All laboratories should be insured against theft’
Need to strengthen patrolling on campus

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Shaken by the recent break-in at the Botany block on the Karyavattom campus of the University of Kerala, some heads of departments have mooted the idea of insuring the university’s laboratories for theft, installation of burglar alarms and an across-the-board augmentation of the physical integrity of buildings in the campus.

The academics said they were convinced that an increase in the number of security personnel would only be a partial solution and it would not be a deterrence to a similar incident in the future.

The head of the Department of Botany G.M. Nair said he had asked the university authorities to install grills and collapsible gates in the corridors and open spaces in his department. “Almost all department buildings are open from all sides and anybody can get in. I never thought that breaking into my department would be this simple an affair. The recent incident has had a chilling effect on the academic activities here. Students are a frightened lot today,” he explained.

Dr. Nair pointed out that costly scientific equipment need not exactly be stolen. Even if such equipment were to be thrown to the ground or dented, they would, for practical purposes, be useless. Many science departments house such equipment worth lakhs of rupees. Some university officials reportedly told Dr. Nair that if the university sanctioned the installation of grills and gates in the Botany Department, other departments too would start demanding similar facilities.

The head of the Department of Geology V. Prasannakumar said here that he was preparing to write to the university asking that all laboratories be insured against theft. Burglar alarms should also be installed in these facilities. “When I installed costly computers and software in my laboratory, I also fitted the windows with additional iron bars and also put a special padlock on the door. But this is something that the university should be done and funded. At least now, this should be done,” he said.

It is not just academics, who have costly microscopes or GIS software in their laboratories, who are worried about break-ins. Had a similar incident taken place at, say, the Oriental Research Institute and Manuscript Library the results would have been disastrous and the loss, irreplaceable. A microscope can be bought again. But what about a 200-year-old palm leaf manuscript? According to institute head P. Visalakshy the only padlocks on the door of her library are her prayers.

Vice-Chancellor M.K. Ramachandran Nair said the university had no plan now to augment the physical integrity of buildings on its campuses or to hand over security duty to a private agency. “We plan to install floodlights at various points on the Karyavattom campus. The additional security personnel that we asked for are yet to report for duty. But once they come and once we strengthen patrolling on the campus I believe the problem can more or less be solved,” he said.

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