Made to carry sambaar vessel, boy suffers burns in Telangana

KHAMMAM: A Class 8 student of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Gurukula School in Wyra, Garlapati Jaswanth, suffered 40 per cent burn injuries when a large vessel of hot sambaar which he was shifting from the cooking shed to the dining hall along with two other students fell on him. The incident took place on Saturday. District Collector VP Gowtham suspended the school’s headmaster P Mallaiah and warden S K Pasha on Sunday. 

While the agency which holds the contract for cooking for the school students, should place all the dishes in the hall, it regularly tells students to carry out the task. Thirteen-year-old Jaswanth was holding one end of the degchi (vessel) when he slipped and fell. 

The piping hot sambaar in the vessel fell on his face, torso, hands and legs leading to burns. Other students who were witness to the incident alerted the school staff who shifted Jaswanth to the Khammam government hospital. The boy was later shifted to a private hospital. His condition is reported to be stable. 

The Collector also passed orders to cancel the cooking contract of the agency. He said the Wyra school would soon be shifted to another place. Raghunadhapalem police have registered a case.Some students at the school said that they are assigned “shifting duties” every day and never raised a complaint because school officials turn a blind eye to the process saying it is all in a day’s work for them.