Some 33 girl students of the State-run Ashram high school for girls in Wardhannapet of Warangal district were hospitalised due to suspected food poisoning after they had dinner in the hostel on Monday night.
It is suspected that a lizard had fallen in the food served to the students at the hostel on Monday night.
The incident sparked outcry from the aggrieved parents and protests by various student unions over alleged apathy of the staff concerned for the “food poisoning.”
Commotion prevailed at the hostel attached to the Tribal Welfare Ashram High School in Wardhannapet after several girl students complained of vomiting and stomachache soon after having dinner at the hostel, sources said.
As over 30 students developed food poisoning symptoms, the hostel staff immediately rushed them to the local Community Health Centre (CHC). Some 13 of them were subsequently shifted to the MGM hospital in Warangal the same night. Their condition was stated to be stable.
One of the hospitalised students told her parents that she had spotted a dead lizard in the food and alerted the worker who prepared it. She alleged that the worker advised her to either eat it quietly or throw it in the dustbin.
Several netizens took to Twitter trolling the persons at the helm seeking an explanation over the “food poisoning” incident and the persons “responsible” for it.
Official sources said some of the students attempted self-induced vomiting after one of the girl students told them that she had spotted a dead lizard in her food.
The higher authorities ordered a detailed probe into the incident to establish the facts, sources added.
The parents of several students of the ashram high school reportedly took away their wards to their homes on Tuesday morning following the incident.
An angry mother of a Class VI student of the ashram school expressed her ire at the staff concerned for their “callous apathy” towards the students in the residential institution. “Our repeated appeals to the staff to improve hygiene and ensure quality food in the ashram school fell on deaf ears,” she rued.
When contacted, Warangal Collector B. Gopi told The Hindu that as many as 21 students were discharged from the Wardhannapet CHC on Tuesday afternoon.
The condition of all the 13 students admitted to the MGM hospital is stable and normal. They will stay back in the hospital on Tuesday night as per medical advice, he added.
The Wardhannapet ashram school warden has been placed under suspension and a detailed inquiry into the incident is underway.
