Students allege spoiled food served at AU hostel; V-C orders stricter monitoring
Students of Andhra University on Tuesday staged a protest alleging that spoiled egg curry was served at the Arts Hostel mess, prompting the university administration
Students of Andhra University on Tuesday staged a protest alleging that spoiled egg curry was served at the Arts Hostel mess, prompting the university administration to order stricter monitoring of food quality in hostels. According to student representatives, several boarders noticed a foul smell emanating from the egg curry served at the boys’ hostel mess during lunch and alleged that similar incidents had occurred earlier. The students carried the vessel containing the curry to the Vice-Chancellor’s office in protest.
Representatives of several student organisations joined the demonstration and demanded immediate action. Kusumanjali, SFI Andhra University secretary, and Ajay, SFI Visakhapatnam secretary, alleged that students were being served unhygienic food and demanded that only quality food be provided in hostels. They said student organisations would submit a representation to the Vice-Chancellor seeking regular monitoring of food quality and measures to prevent a recurrence of such incidents. Following the protest, the hostel warden, the principal, police personnel, security officials and university authorities visited the hostel mess and interacted with the students.
Later in the evening, the university said Vice-Chancellor G. P. Raja Sekhar reviewed hostel administration with chief wardens and other officials and directed that the quality of food served in hostel messes, as well as vegetables stored in hostels, be monitored on a daily basis. He instructed chief wardens to ensure that hostel committees actively supervise food quality and said two students from each hostel mess would participate in the daily inspections, with attendance being granted for the duty.
The Vice-Chancellor said responsibility would be fixed on the staff concerned if deficiencies were found in food preparation, while action would be initiated against suppliers if the ingredients were found to be of poor quality. He also directed officials to expedite the installation of Wi-Fi and CCTV facilities in hostels and undertake necessary repairs after inspecting hostel infrastructure.
The BriefWire