With government turning a blind eye, food poisoning cases continue in Telangana

Students from Primary School, Chennaram village under CM A Revanth Reddy’s constituency protested saying that they were being served with poor quality rice and dal and half-cooked food.

Hyderabad: On January 28, a few students of Tribal Welfare School, Kesamudram in Mahabubabad fell sick after being served with worm-infested food. On January 30, nearly 50 students from different government schools fell ill due to food poisoning in Kamareddy, Narayanpet and Suryapet districts.

On Wednesday, students from Primary School, Chennaram village under Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s constituency protested saying that they were being served with poor quality rice and dal and half-cooked food. When they complained to their parents, they staged a protest in front of the school, demanding that staff responsible for serving poor quality food should be suspended immediately.

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All these incidents were happening even after the government claimed to have initiated measures to curb such cases. With pressure mounting from different sections over increasing food poisoning cases in government schools and hostels, the State government on November 29 issued two separate orders of constituting task forces and institutional level food safety committees.

As per the orders, the “Task Force Committee” consists of three officers, including a food safety officer, a head of the department or an Additional Director of the concerned institution and a district-level officer. The committee was entrusted with the task of investigating all food safety incidents in respective institutions, identifying the issues and submitting a report to the Chief Secretary.

This apart, institution level food safety committees were also to be constituted. According to the orders, each committee would have the head of the institution, two staff members and students.

These committees were directed to inspect the kitchens regularly, check the quality of ingredients and vegetables used for cooking and more importantly, they were instructed to taste the food before being served to the students.

It is over two months since the two orders were issued by the State government and it is unclear whether the committees were constituted in the schools. Also, if the committees were constituted and were functioning as per the government instructions, recurring incidents of food poisoning cases reflect their ‘efficiency’.

Mess Management Committees

After launching the “Uniform Diet Menu” from social welfare residential school, Chilkur on December 15, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy had ordered the officials to set up Mess Management Committees with students as their members in all government hostels and residential schools across the State.

He had also announced that mess expenses would be released by 10th day of every month through green channel. Further, the Chief Minister also said that he would visit residential schools as part of his official tours.

There is no clarity on the constitution of these Mess Management Committees as well.

Due to the officials’ apathy, students are falling sick and suspected cases of food poisoning continue to recur.