ADILABAD: The 69 students of the Kagaznagar Minority Gurukkulam School who were taken ill on Monday night had rice with cabbage curry and dal at around 7.30 pm. Two hours after dinner they started feeling uneasiness and vomited. It’s alleged that the principal of the school and the staff did not react quickly to take the students to hospital.
Upon coming to know about this, the local police, the parents and some members of AIMIM rushed to the school and shifted the students to two private hospitals in Kagaznagar. Till 1 am they were shifting the students to the two hospitals. The students alleged that they had been served rice filled with insects and rotten vegetable curry for the last two days.
Meanwhile, activists of the OU Joint Action Committee (OUJAC) blocked additional Collector of Kumarambheem Asifabad district, Chahat Bajpai’s vehicle while she was returning from the Kagaznagar Minority Gurukulam School after conducting an enquiry into the food poisoning incident.
They demanded suspension of the principal and the warden of the school for allegedly neglecting to provide quality food to the students.
OUJAC State secretary Anam Nagarjuna and others submitted a memorandum to the additional Collector alleging that the students were given rotten rice and vegetables, leading to food poisoning. There were insects in the rice and vegetables like brinjal and cabbage were in a decomposed state before they were cooked, they alleged. “If the teachers in the school and the students were served the same food, then why only the latter suffered food poisoning?” they questioned and alleged that the treatment for both was not the same.
OUJAC also alleged that the road to the residential school was bumpy and dump yard located close to it make students sick.The repeated complaints by the students to the principal and the warden about rotten food were not taken seriously, alleged OUJAC.
The students after their discharge from the hospitals were taken home on Monday by their parents fearing threat to their health because of bad food.The additional Collector said that the enquiry report would be submitted to the higher officials and assured action against those responsible for the food poisoning.