Officials from the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department conducted inspections at six Adi Dravidar hostels for girls in the city on Tuesday. Madurai district has 56 Adi Dravidar hostels for boys and girls.
A team led by J. Suguna, designated officer for Food Safety and Drug Administration Department, comprising food safety officers K. Saravanan and V. Raja conducted the inspections and took samples of food prepared for breakfast. It also examined the stock at the store rooms, besides looking at the upkeep of the bathrooms.
“The food was prepared hygienically. However, the Reverse Osmosis plants were dysfunctional. The fire extinguishers expired. The kitchen appliances such as grinders were inoperative in all the hostels,” Dr. Suguna said.
All six hostels, including one for students of Industrial Training Institutes, three for school students and two others for college students, were located on Lady Doak College Road.
A few students of the hostel told the officials that they had difficulty in fetching corporation water for drinking because the RO plants were dysfunctional.
“There are three bathrooms on each floor. But we are able to use only one in each floor because the pipes are yet to be fixed in the remaining bathrooms,” said a student.
Officials further noted that sanitary napkin destroyers in five of the hostels were not working. “We will recommend the district administration to repair all the incinerators and appoint permanent sanitary staff in each hostel,” said the officials. There was no permanent staff in these hostels, but the district administration had employed temporary staff, they added.
The sanctioned strength for college students, ITI students and school students in the hostels is 180, 325 and 55 respectively. The hostels have 110 college students, 180 school students and 27 ITI students staying at present.
