Around 30 girls hospitalised after dinner at Bellampalli gurukul; food samples sent for testing
Students at the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule girls' residential school in Mancherial fell ill after a Wednesday meal. The cause is not yet established.
Food and water samples from the Bellampalli gurukul have been sent for testing; results are awaited.
Around 30 girl students from the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule (MJP) residential school in Bellampalli, Mancherial district, were admitted to hospital after complaining of stomach pain and vomiting following dinner on Wednesday, July 22, according to reports in Siasat and Namaste Telangana.
The students were first taken to Bellampalli Government Hospital. Most were discharged by midnight, Siasat reported, but around eight developed the same symptoms again and were brought back on Thursday morning.
Namaste Telangana's account is more granular: some students who appeared to have recovered were sent back to the gurukul, vomited again on Thursday, and were returned to hospital, with seven in a more serious condition shifted to the Area Hospital in Mancherial. The two reports differ on exact numbers, and neither figure should be read as final.
What both agree on is that the cause has not been established. Food and water samples have been collected and sent to a laboratory; results are pending. Namaste Telangana attributed the sample collection to the district food safety officer, Vasuram.
Namaste Telangana also reported that students and parents said boiled peas had been served on Wednesday evening. That is an account given by those affected, not an official finding, and it is single-source at this stage.
The school is a BC Welfare residential institution — Namaste Telangana reported that the BC gurukul society's regional and district coordination officers came to seek details. The condition of the seriously affected students, the total number who ate the meal, and the lab results are not yet public.
The only allegation of a cause on the record is political. Namaste Telangana reported that leaders of the BRS student wing (BRSV) claimed undercooked food and unhygienic surroundings had made the students ill, and demanded action against the officials and staff responsible. That is BRSV's allegation, and the lab results that would establish or rule it out are not yet available.
None of the reports carries a response from the school management, the warden, the BC Welfare Gurukul Society or the state government. No response from any of them is on record.