Food poisoning: ST Girls Hostel officer, cook suspended

Warangal district Collector issued suspension orders to the hostel welfare officer on charges of negligence of duties, not ensuring hygienic food was provided to the students.
A BJYM activist being stopped from proceeding towards BC Welfare Office building at Masab Tank on Tuesday | Jwala
A BJYM activist being stopped from proceeding towards BC Welfare Office building at Masab Tank on Tuesday | Jwala

WARANGAL: Two days after 35 students of the ST Girls Hostel in Wardhannapet in the district fell ill after dinner, welfare officer O Jyothi and cook V Venkatram were suspended from their duties and Ilaiah, the contractor, was removed from his responsibilities. Tribal Welfare Minister Satyavathi Rathod also ordered the authorities to take immediate action against all the officials responsible for the incident.

On Tuesday, Warangal district Collector Dr B Gopi issued suspension orders to the hostel welfare officer on charges of negligence of duties, not ensuring hygienic food was provided to the students, providing contaminated food and ignoring the complaint by the students that they found a lizard in the rice. Warangal district Senior Civil Judge and Secretary of District Legal Service Authority J Upender Rao also rushed to the MGM Hospital, where 13 of the 35 students were admitted for treatment. The students recounted their ordeal to the judge.

Later in the evening, the 13 students were discharged as their condition improved, according to MGM Hospital superintendent Dr V Chandrashekar. Later, Upender Rao inspected the hostel and enquired with the students about the lizard in the rice and the food served to them.

Initially, all the 35 students who had complained of nausea and stomachache and had started vomiting were rushed to the nearby primary health centre (PHC) and then 13 of the more seriously ill were shifted to the MGM Hospital in Warangal. Those admitted to the PHC were discharged after treatment.

Warangal district Additional Collector B Hari Singh and DTDO Shaik Zaheeruddin visited the hostel and conducted an inquiry into the food poisoning incident. The students and their parents who met the officials demanded strict action against those responsible for the incident. Meanwhile, parents are continuing to take away their children from the hostel, saying that they would not want to risk their health.

BJYM demands minister’s resignation
BJYM activists staged a protest outside the BC Welfare Office at Masab Tank on Tuesday, in protest against the food poisoning incident at an ST Girls Hostel in Wardhannapet. They demanded the resignation of Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy over such repeated incidents in government-run hostels for students of social welfare residential schools.

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