The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has directed the State government to investigate reports of over 800 children falling ill due to suspected food poisoning in Telangana’s residential schools and submit a detailed report. The issue came to the fore during NHRC’s two-day camp sitting in Hyderabad, where it took up over 100 human rights cases specific to the State.
Addressing the media after the conclusion of the hearings on Tuesday, NHRC chairperson Justice V. Ramasubramanian said the Commission has taken serious note of the poisoning cases and sought an explanation from senior government officials during a closed-door interaction held on Monday morning.
“It has come to our attention that around 48 student deaths involving 886 incidents of food poisoning in gurukul schools across Telangana have occurred. The officials informed us that action has already been taken, and some contractors have been suspended or blacklisted. We have asked them to submit status reports within four weeks so that the Commission can monitor the follow-up,” he said.
The Commission’s Hyderabad ‘open sitting’, held at Dr. MCR Human Resource Development Institute here, saw two benches taking up a total of 109 cases over the two-day period. The commission has closed 29 cases on merit after hearing both the parties.
