ADILABAD: Much to the relief of parents and officials concerned, all the students of IIIT-Basara who fell sick after lunch on Friday were declared out of danger on Saturday and discharged from hospitals.
District Collector Mushraff Ali Faruqui instructed the college management to file cases on the mess contractors for their negligence. Accordingly, Dean Ranjith Kumar lodged a complaint with the Basara police against the contractors — SS Caterers and Kendriya Bhandar —who were booked under Sections 273 and 336 of the Food Security Act, 2006. The officials last night collected food samples and sent them to a laboratory.
Faruqui said 150 students fell ill of whom 20 were shifted to a hospital and later discharged. “The students were initially administered treatment by 14 medical teams who visited the campus. We have filed criminal cases on the mess contractors and the warden, who was prima facie found to be negligent in carrying out duties, has been removed from the post,” he said.
Sources said the varsity administration is contemplating cancelling the mess contract due to the poor quality of food served to the students. Telangana State Council of Higher Education vice-chairman Venkat Ramana also visited the college and enquired about the health condition of the students.
Meanwhile, police detained BJYM and YSRTP activists who staged a protest in front of the IIIT-Basara campus and shifted them to the police station. They were later released. The police also turned away former MLA A Maheshwar Reddy who was on his way to meet the students. Elsewhere, ABVP activists staged a protest in front of Endowments Minister A Indrakaran Reddy’s camp office against the alleged negligence of the college management.