Over 300 DU students affected by AERB ban

A day after the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) withdrew permission given to the Delhi University (DU) to use any radioactive source in its labs, it has emerged that the final report by the three-member fact finding committee was actually submitted nearly two months ago, on July 26.

A day after the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) withdrew permission given to the Delhi University (DU) to use any radioactive source in its labs, it has emerged that the final report by the three-member fact finding committee was actually submitted nearly two months ago, on July 26.

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The AERB had withdrawn permission from the DU, as the latter had failed two deadlines to submit its final reply on the radiation exposure incident at Mayapuri scrap yard within the stipulated period.

The final report, based on which the AERB and Delhi Police were to act, had to be tabled at the Executive Council meeting of the varsity.

However, according to the Vice-Chancellor Deepak Pental, such a meeting could not be convened “since there were other important issues” to be addressed.

“Our priority was to try and ensure that the semester system is implemented in the undergraduate science courses. It took up most of our time,” said Pental.

Speaking on the punitive action taken by AERB, Pental said, “The AERB should have been more thoughtful. The ban will affect students, who will suffer for no fault of theirs.”
S.K. Mandal, associate professor, department of Physics and Astrophysics, said such a ban will directly affect around 350 post-graduate students, especially those who need to conduct experiments using radioactive sources.