236 students fall ill due to food poisoning in 26 days in Telangana

HYDERABAD:  A total of 236 students studying in various educational institutions in the State suffered food poisoning in the last 26 days due to contaminated food and water.

The data accumulated by the members of the Hakku initiative, a social campaign of the Institute of Perception Studies says that food poisoning incidents happened at 10 places in nine districts in the last month.

The data also says that a total of 936 students fell ill due to contaminated food and water in various government residential schools and hostels at 25 places in 17 districts in the last 8 months.

“We collected this data from the calls and we got our helpline numbers from parents of students living in these schools, social organisations working in the education sector, people working with the weaker sections and unconnected citizens who were concerned about the kids,” said Kota Neelima, volunteer in Hakku initiative. The data is the third installation of their research.

“We have cross-checked every incident reported to us and left behind the ones we could not verify,” she added. The team is soon going to take this data to Education Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy with a representation to start a mandatory weekly social audit of the food served to children.

‘Mana Hakku Mana Hyderabad/Telangana’ is a campaign-based online platform that works on solutions with citizens and governments. The members of the campaign have been collecting data about food poisoning since May 2022.