No food for over 12 hrs: 3,000 IIIT Basar students boycott mess food over admin's inaction

Hyderabad: Amulya, a second-year engineering student at IIIT Basar, has not eaten since the evening of 30 July. Along with her, around 3,000 first and second-year students of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies (RGUKT) also known as IIIT Basar have boycotted the mess food and are protesting against the administration's inaction in providing quality food despite the mass food poisoning incident in the campus on July 2022.

At around 6:30 p.m on Saturday, the students gathered at the E1 and E2 mess and started their protest. Their demands include the termination of the present mess contract with immediate effect, providing quality food, and improving the mess infrastructure. The students said mess E1 and E2 are not enough for 3,000 students.

Besides, they are also seeking an explanation behind the mass food poisoning incident that happened on the campus on 15 July. Thousands of students fell sick after eating lunch at the mess.

"After the mass food poisoning, a show cause notice was issued to the mess management and the ingredients used to prepare the food were seized. Samples were also taken for testing. But nothing happened after that. They did not tell us the result of the food test and the reason for the food poisoning," said Amulya. She added that the mess management did not change the ingredients even after the food poisoning incident.

On 30 July, the Vice-Chancellor met the students and assured them that all their demands would be fulfilled. The students said the V-C spoke about several issues but not about their main problem which is the mess food.

"Our parents are scared and wonder how we will survive here with such low-quality food. The college promised us many things but provided us nothing," added Amulya, who is also a member of the Students Governing Council (SGC).

The students have decided to continue with their boycott till they get assurance regarding their demands. Earlier, when the mass food poisoning occurred, the administration had assured them that the mess contractors would be changed by 20 July. But nothing has changed since then.

Recently, on 25 July, Sanjay Kiran, a 19-year-old IIIT Basar student from Warangal, died. His parents alleged that the mess food played a critical role in their son's death.

On 14 June, the students of IIIT Basar protested raising 12 demands, including good quality food; improving the faculty-student ratio; providing appropriate sports, ICT, library, washroom, and hostel facilities; appointing of a permanent Vice-Chancellor; and good teaching staff.