30 fall ill after consuming hostel food in Birur
Following the consumption of contaminated food in a hostel run by Social Welfare department, more than 30 girl students have fallen sick at Hirenallur. The authorities have suspended hostel warden Nirmala on the grounds of dereliction of duty.
More than 40 students from first standard to tenth standard are residing at the hostel at Hirenallur. They had chapathis on Tuesday night. It is said that poor quality of food was suplied to the students on Wednesday morning for breakfast. “When we informed the warden of staunch smell emanating from the breakfast, she had scolded us and asked us to consume the food that was given,” said students. As the students consumed breakfast, more than 30 students developed vomiting and stomachache in the hostel, who were later admitted to Birur hospital.
District Social Welfare Officer Prabhakar who visited the hospital announced that warden will be placed under suspension and a departmental inquiry will be initiated against her. Realising the shortage of doctors in the hospital, being a doctor by profession, MLA Dr Vishwanath himself started examining the patients.
Parents said “even last week poor quality of food was supplied to the students. The students were not supplied with the nutritious food along with fruits as per the list of food to be supplied to the students.’
As soon as the news began to spread, the villagers gheroaed Taluk Social Welfare Officer M H Prakash who visited the spot and shouted slogans against the social welfare department.
Assistant Cooks Lakshmamma and Rekha said “we had informed warden of poor quality of food supplied to the hostel. However, the warden scolded us to cook from what is available.”
The students said “when Vijayalakshmi madam was our warden she used to purchase vegetables every week. However, the present warden gets one kg of vegetables once in two or three weeks while coming from Kadur. She never used to give us fruits.”
