20 students fall ill after consuming stale dinner in Mancherial

Around 20 students fell ill after consuming allegedly contaminated food at a government-run Scheduled Caste hostel in Bellampalli on Friday night. Two students are critical. Parents and leaders blamed negligence and demanded strict action, citing similar past incidents in the State.

Mancherial: Around 20 students fell ill after consuming stale food at a government-run Scheduled Caste hostel in Bellampalli on Friday night.

Officials said between 15 and 25 students were hospitalised after having dinner at the hostel around 9 pm. The students reportedly fainted after consuming food that contained worms and were immediately shifted to a hospital in the town. Local police and officials visited the students while they were undergoing treatment. The medical condition of two students was stated to be critical.

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On receiving information, former Bellampalli MLA Durgam Chinnaiah visited the hospital and urged officials to provide better treatment to the affected students. He also called upon the authorities to ensure that quality food was cooked in hygienic surroundings. Alleging that food contamination incidents in government-run hostels had become a routine affair, he said this exposed the callousness of officials in supervising such facilities.

Parents expressed concern over the recurring food contamination menace and urged officials to take precautions to prevent similar incidents in the future. They alleged that students were being served stale and worm infested food in hostels and said officials were showing negligence in controlling the problem, thereby risking the lives of students.

On October 30 last year, over 60 students fell ill after consuming dinner at a hostel in Wankidi mandal headquarters in Kumram Bheem Asifabad district. One of the victims, Choudari Shailaja, died while undergoing treatment at NIMS in Hyderabad on November 25. Five staff members, including the headmaster of the Ashram school at Wankidi mandal for girls, were transferred for dereliction of duty following the food poisoning incident.