23 school children dead after
consumption of spurious midday meal at a government primary school in Bihar ’s Saran district. While 16 children, aged below 10
years and studying in Class I to V, had died in Chhapra itself, four others
were declared dead on arrival at Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) late.
Two died at the hospital.
Among the dead were two
children of a woman cook of the midday meal project Panno Devi. Three children
of another woman cook Manju Devi are under treatment at PMCH along with her. Twenty
five others are under medical supervision in PMCH.
The Superintendent said the
ailing children were admitted to ICU of paediatric department and senior
doctors were attending to them round-the-clock. The tragedy took place at the
government primary school in Dahrmasati Gandawan village at Mashrakh block,
about 25 km from Chhapra and 60 km from state capital (Patna
Preliminary inquiries suggest that a high level of
organic phosphorus content in the meal could have caused the deaths of the
children. State Education Minister Mr. P.K. Shahi claimed that political
conspiracy to destabilise the government was behind the incident. Some children
complained to officials that the headmistress coaxed them to eat the food when
they complained of bad taste. The police have filed an FIR against the
headmistress and other unknown persons.
Submit the report; Centre tells Bihar:- The Human Resource
Development Ministry has sought a report from the Bihar
government on mid-day meal tragedy in
Chapra in which 22 children died. HRD Minister Mr. M.M. Pallam Raju said that,
it is a very sad incident and we are deeply pained at the loss of lives of
children. He said it looked like a case of food contamination and asked the
States to exercise caution while implementing the mid-day meal scheme. It is an
aberration. Although it is an unfortunate incident, it is not a recurring
thing. The Ministry is the nodal agency for implementing the programme. The
Minister said investigation was on and during probe it would be ascertained if
guidelines were followed.
New panel to monitor mid-day meal scheme:- The Human Resource Development
Ministry announced that a new committee would be set up to review the
implementation of its flagship mid-day meal scheme with a view to monitoring
the quality of food and ensuring hygiene standards. This will be in addition to
the existing panel that meets twice a year to review the implementation of the
programme and gives its feedback to the States. The new committee, likely to
be headed by Union Human Resource Development Minister M.M. Pallam Raju
himself, will have 20 members and have representation from civil society
organisations, officers from related Ministries and other stakeholders. It will
meet every three months. It will also look into the effectiveness of the
food supply chain and kitchen hygiene standards.
Mr. Pallam Raju said the
mid-day meal scheme was very important for promoting primary education in the
country. Replying to the questions, Mr. Raju said Bihar
was alerted about the unsatisfactory quality of food served in government
schools in 12 districts, among which Saran — the worst-affected district — was
one.
Little attention was being
given to existing concerns over the cleanliness of drinking water and storage
and serving spaces, it said. There was need for convergence between the
departments involved and the schools must be made completely safe to support
the meal programme. India
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