Thiruvananthapuram: The food safety department is suspecting foul play over the continuing incidents of food poisoning in GV Raja Sports School, Mylam. In order to rule out the angle, the department has decided to approach sports department to demand for a police inquiry into the issue.
The food safety department has suspended licence of the school’s kitchen on Tuesday night. Subsequently, the school announced leave for all students and suspended all functions until further notice.
Food safety commissioner M G Rajamanickam said that the department was suspecting foul play as cases of food poisoning occurred multiple times in the past years during June-July period. “The mess has been awarded to private parties on contract basis. We are not sure whether the food poisoning incidents happen due to some foul play. In order to clear the suspicion, we feel a police inquiry is necessary,” said Rajamanickam.
Rajamanickam said he would write to sports secretary to direct a police inquiry to clear the suspicion over the incident. The GV Raja Sports School comes under the sports department.
Around 58 students from boys’ and girls’ hostels took treatment from district hospital, Peroorkada over complaints of stomach pain, diarrhoea and vomiting on Sunday night.
The food safety commissioner said that mystery over the issue deepened after food safety officials visited the school kitchen. “In previous years when the food poisoning incidents were reported, the facilities were poor. However, based on the department’s direction, the kitchen was renovated. So we have to find out the reason behind food poisoning,” he said.
Though the department could not take samples of the food that caused poisoning due to late reporting of the issue, it has taken samples of water for testing, the result of which is expected on Thursday.
The food safety department has not taken a decision on when the licence of the kitchen could be renewed. Being a residential school, it could not function if the hostels remain closed.
“As it is a government sports school, we cannot keep the school’s kitchen closed for a continuous period. We are awaiting a lab report of water samples. If the school authorities come up with a satisfactory report of remedial steps, we will consider opening it. We will also explore possibilities whether the contract of running the kitchen could be given to a trusted agency like Kudumbashree,” Rajamanickam said.
Despite repeated attempts to contact school authorities, no one picked up phone at GV Raja School.
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