Sir — This refers to the report, “Darkness shrouds mid-day” (July 18).
The mid-day meal tragedy in Saran, in which the death toll has risen to 22, followed by another alarming news that 50 children took ill after a dead lizard was found in another mid-day meal in a school in Madhubani, reveal an unforgivable callousness and apathy on the part of the authorities.
The tragedy underscores the importance of adhering to strict guidelines while undertaking a massively popular project. The mid-day meal scheme, reportedly the world’s largest school feeding programme, has been implemented very well in States like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. But corruption and lax attitude of some school managements has brought disrepute to the project. It is also doubtful whether the State screening committees, which should take stock of the progress of the scheme every four months, do their job diligently. Since both the Centre and the States have stakes in the mid-day scheme, it is imperative that both pull up their socks to ensure such tragedies do not recur.