The pangs of mid-day meal continues to haunt the children as reports of lizards and rats in the food came in from Bhilwara and Mangalore, while in Delhi the supply of mid-day meal to a primary school was stopped after the principal and three others were hospitalised after tasting the foo
Alarmed by similar complaints pouring in from across the country, HRD Minister MM Pallam Raju has convened a high-level consultative meeting on mid-day meal scheme (MDMS) on Wednesday.
In Rajasthan, 76 students of a Government school in Bhilwara district fell ill on Tuesday after consuming meal in which a dead lizard was found. The children were rushed to hospitals. Their condition was stated to be normal and was likely to be discharged at the earliest. The headmaster of the school, Kailash Garg, and mid-day meal in-charge, Dinesh, were suspended and Additional Block Education Officer ladu was removed from his post and put under APO (Awaiting Posting Order) status. Three cooks, who prepared the food, were also removed, he said.
In Karnataka, a rat was found in the sambhar kept ready for mid-day meal at a Government primary school at Krishnapur near Mangalore causing anxiety among authorities against the backdrop of the recent tragedy in Bihar. The schoolchildren were fortunate that the rat was found much before the mid-day meal was to be served.
Soon after a girl student found the rat at the bottom of the vessel, teachers brought it to the notice of authorities in the Education Department.
In National Capital, a school principal and three others complained of stomach pain after tasting the food before it was served to the schoolchildren. The incident was reported from primary school in Rohini sector 21, where the four tasted the mid-day meal, comprising halwa-chana.
The food prepared by Maitri Research and Development Foundation was first tasted by the school principal, teacher in-charge of mid-day meal and two members of the NGO. The food tasting was done half-an-hour before it was scheduled to be served to children.
A senior NDMC officer, however, claimed that the same food was distributed in 56 other schools but no complaint was registered from other schools.
“On Monday, the principal and other members of the committee tasted food at a primary municipal school in Sector-21 of Rohini. As per practice, the mid-day meal is distributed 30 minutes after the food is tasted by authorities. Three out of the four members of the committee complained of stomach pain. The school principal then decided not to distribute the mid-deal meal,” said MSA Khan, the Additional Commissioner (education) of the NDMC. In Bihar, the Opposition continued to stage walkout in the legislative Council over the issue of death of 23 children due to eating poisonous mid-day meal and demanded reply by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.