Parents outraged after rats bite children at KGBV in NTR District

A group of parents of students at Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidlaya (KGBV) in A. Kondur village of NTR District alleged that the children were being served low quality food and that the hostel lacked proper drains and maintenance.
Parents gathered at the institution after word spread that over 12 students suffered rat bites at the KGBV a couple of days ago. They expressed anger over the poor maintenance of the dormitories, which house 240 students.

“The incident [rat bites] occurred due to unhygienic conditions at the KGBV. The septic tank was overflowing, there was no proper drains and leftover food was being dumped in the open, leading to squalid conditions on hostel premises,” a parent who visited the hostel alleged.

Students also alleged that they suffered mosquito bites because the windows lacked meshes and that monkeys entered the hostels.

District Collector G. Lakshmisha, who inspected the KGBV on Saturday (February 14) and interacted with the students, accused some of the hostel staff of negligence.

He said that Special Officer M. Shyamala, who was found negligent, has been surrendered to the government.
Speaking to The Hindu on Sunday, NTR District Girl Child Development Officer (GCDO) B. Vishswa Bharati said the condition of all the 12 students who suffered rat bites was stable.

“Proposals have been sent to the government for the appointment of a regular principal, construction of drainage, fixing iron meshes on all the 80 windows and for raising the ground with sand to prevent water stagnation,” the GCDO said.

Poor maintenance

Deputy MPDO Sundar Lal, who has been tasked with the maintenance of the KGBV after the incident, said rats proliferated in the dormitories owing to poor maintenance. “The septic tank was cleaned immediately, ground filling is being done with 150 lorries of sand, chlorination and sanitisation are being done at the hostel,” Mr. Sundar Lal said.

The Collector directed Mandal Education Officer (MEO-II) Keshava Rao, in-charge Mandal Education Officer N. Aravind and KGBV principal N. Vijaya Sundari to monitor the situation.