NIFT students post images of insects found in hostel food

The institute caters to around 600 students enrolled to study fashion for a period of three years. With just 200 seats available every year, students across the country have to appear for an entrance exam. Parents claimed that the institute charges a fee of ₹1.78 lakh per annum, which includes food and accommodation on twin-sharing basis

Kharghar: Aggrieved by the alleged substandard quality of food served in the hostel canteen, the students at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) Kharghar resorted to voicing their concerns on social media.

NIFT students post images of insects found in hostel food

The institute’s management, however, has termed it as a one-off incident. They claimed that a handful of final year students were blowing the issue out of proportion to convince their parents to let them stay in paying guest accommodations outside the campus.

On Sunday, students shared images of insects found in food items, and of food said to be made with poor-quality ingredients. The photos were tagged to various government authorities asking them if they or their children will consume such food.

Each of the images were highlighted with the date on which they were served. “A considerable part of the institute’s fee structure includes food through the canteen. But the quality of food served is very poor,” said a student who did not wish to be named.

“In fact, the majority of the students prefer to eat outside or often go to their relatives to have a healthy home-cooked meal,” added the student.

The institute caters to around 600 students enrolled to study fashion for a period of three years. With just 200 seats available every year, students across the country have to appear for an entrance exam. Parents claimed that the institute charges a fee of ₹1.78 lakh per annum, which includes food and accommodation on twin-sharing basis.

“This is supposed to be a premier institute that is recognized by the government, but the kind of food served is deplorable,” said a relative of a student.

“There have always been complaints over substandard quality of food, but on Sunday, it became severe after students found insects and flour mites in the food items. The students had shared these pictures pictures on Whatsapp groups as well,” added the relative.

Both the faculty as well as the hostel management tried to play down the issue. The institute said it has a committee comprising the faculty that regularly monitors the quality of food served.

“For the third-year students, the mess is kept optional; still most of them continue to have food from the canteen only as they get a wider variety of food at nominal rate,” said Binita Jha, hostel warden.

Meanwhile, after the incident, the hostel committee convened a meeting wherein the canteen operator was questioned about the incident.

When contacted, Kushal Jehangir, joint director, said, “There were indeed three incidents which happened on different days and corrective measures have already been taken.

“However, the issue is being circulated on social media with an ulterior intent. There are handful of students in the final year not wanting to stay in the hostel and to convince their parents to let them go independent, they are resorting to such acts,” said Jehangir.