Bad food sparks protests

Unhygieni Conditions at Social Welfare Hostels

Hyderabad : While the State can boast of having launched innovative and more new schemes in the name of welfare, it cannot deny the fact that there is a rotten system in place when it comes to implementation of schemes. This is clearly evident in the case of insect infested food being served to the children at the social welfare hostels across the State. The Telugu Sankshema Bhavan at Masab Tank has become the centre of protest as students led by NGOs have been staging a sit- in demonstrations on a regular basis since the start of this month.

It is learnt that the hostels normally store rice in large bags. But the hostel wardens never follow hygienic systems and those allowing all kinds of pests to infest on the stored food items. Kula Vivaksha Vyathirekha Porata Samithi (KVPS), an affiliation of CPI (M), on Monday staged a dharna here demanding to solve problems faced by social welfare hostels and Gurukul schools. Speaking to media, one of the school children from Dilsukhnagar revealed that they were being forced to eat food contaminated with insects. Suma Latha, an eighth standard student, said they don't have any option but to eat infested food, she said.

The recently launched Bangaru Thalli scheme would curb the girl students' dropout rate. But the State needs to take measures to address the problems faced by them at the schools. S Ramya, another student pointed out that a girl student has to face more problems. Unclean toilets are one of them. "If we do not have clean toilets where should we go? Being born as girl we have to face a lot of problems", said Ramya.

The KVPS state secretary John Wesley said that the children were falling ill because of non-availability of safe drinking water, besides unhealthy food. He felt that until and unless the government increases the mess charges in tune with the growing prices, the ultimate sufferers would be children of welfare hostels. He demanded the government to provide hostel children with four pair of clothes and notebooks immediately. He demanded the government to provide hostel children with four pair of clothes and notebooks immediately as academic year has already started. According to him, there were 442 hostels in the State were in dilapidated condition with a threat to their lives due to building collapse.