DU dorm in battle with bedbugs!

Ask any residential student of Dhaka University about their most common companion and see what answer you get. "Bedbugs," he will most likely say, without much deliberation.

Generations of DU residential students have known this suffering but nothing has really changed in decades.

But the authorities of one dorm have decided against giving in to the bedbugs. Accordingly, the provost of Muktijoddha Ziaur Rahman Hall yesterday launched a drive to “free the dorm” of bedbugs.

Prof Zia Rahman, the hall provost, told The Daily Star that the move came after some Facebook posts on the students' sufferings caught the authorities' attention.

“Our cleaning staff have already cleaned up all the garbage and old papers outside the rooms in the dormitory.”

Use of pesticide has also been started to kill the bedbugs, keeping in mind students' health issues, he added.

Very few students could be found who are not familiar with these bugs living under the bed mattresses and chairs.

There is hardly any room in the 17 dormitories of the country's largest public university that is not infested with these blood suckers. Students are often found to be embarrassed when they find bugs crawling on their clothes in public, students complained.

The unique effort of Prof Rahman has drawn wide appreciation from the students.

If he succeeds in getting rid of the bedbugs, authorities of other dormitories might also find encouragement in this and may launch similar drives, university sources said.

A number of the students hoped that may be one day they would be able to have sound sleep at night and not just toss and turn if this initiative achieves its desired goal.