Hyderabad: Nearly 200 inmates of girls' hostels at the Osmania University staged protest over poor food quality following which the main thoroughfare inside the campus was blocked over 12 hours till Sunday afternoon.

Raising slogans against the college administration, the students said the quality of food was very poor and is being served in unhygienic conditions. They rued that the stock was stale and is infested with insects and worms leading to frequent health problems.

"On Saturday night students at the ladies hostel refused to have food as they demanded mess staff to use quality ingredients,” said Syeda Shahazadi, a student leader at Osmania University.

Students said that they brought to the notice of administration several times about unhygienic food and water but as they didn’t pay any heed they took the decision to stage protest.

Asked on the protest OU Vice Chancellor S. Ramachandram confessed of having lapses on part of hostel mess, adding that the issue has been resolved now.

"Due to incessant rains for the past few days, the stock in the hostel mess was wet and got damaged. However, the issue has been resolved as we have replaced the damaged stock with fresh items," said Ramachandram.

It is estimated that over 3,000 girl student reside in the hostel and this is not first time that issue has surfaced. Since 2009 the issue has been raging with students protesting at the beginning of every academic year to provide quality food.