Food poisoning case: Telangana constitutes task force committees; HC seeks status report

Hyderabad: Telangana government has set up task force committees to prevent food poisoning in schools.

The government informed the high court which was hearing the matter.

Keethineedi Akhil Sri Guru Teja, from Hyderabad, had filed a petition seeking a direction to the central and state governments to implement PM Poshan and the Integrated Child Development Service Scheme (ICDS) in toto.

The matter came up for hearing before a division bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice J. Sreenivas Rao.

On November 27, when the plea came up for hearing, petitioner’s counsel Chikkudu Prabhakar said on November 20, 50 students studying in Maganoor Zilla Parishad High School in Narayanpet district fell sick reportedly after eating boiled eggs and other food.

A day later on November 21, worms were seen in the mid-day meal served to the students of the same school. On November 26, 28 students fell sick in the same school again after consuming stale food. He said despite such pathetic conditions prevailing in the government schools, the administration has not taken any steps to ensure that such incidents do not crop up again.

Chief Justice summoned Additional AG Imran Khan and sought details about the entire issue. He passed serious strictures against the officials, who are responsible for this incident. He sought a report on this issue.

Accordingly, on Thursday, when the matter came up for hearing, Imran Khan informed the bench that the state government has constituted task force committees, which will ensure that the food poisoning issues won’t crop up again.

Further, he informed the court that Head Master of the Maganoor Zilla Parishad High School has been suspended. The contract with the food supplier has also been terminated.

Later the court adjourned the matter by 6 weeks with the direction to the state government to file a detailed status report on the issue.