Bihar Assembly witnessed uproarious scenes on Monday over the mid-day meal tragedy in Saran district when a JD(U) member Manjit Singh made certain remarks over the alleged role of the Opposition in it and also demanded a probe.
Agitated over the JD(U) member’s remarks which were later expunged by the Speaker, Manjit Singh continued with his salvo against the BJP members, stating that timers used in triggering serial bomb blasts were made in Gujarat and now it is a matter of investigation whether pesticide, which killed 23 children in the mid-day meal tragedy in Saran district were also manufactured in Gujarat.
As soon as the JD(U) member made direct allegations against members of the Opposition benches, BJP members trooped into the Well of the House and did not re-occupy their seats despite repeated appeals from the Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary.
Earlier, the Speaker admitted the adjournment motion of the RJD member Abdul Bari Sidiqqui and other members for a special debate on the mid-day meal tragedy.
The Speaker, however, rejected the adjournment motion of the BJP member Vinod Narayan Jha on the same subject on the ground that his office received the RJD’s copy of the motion first.
later, replying to the debate, amid walk out by members of both BJP and RJD, State Education Minister PK Shahi once again claimed that the tragedy was the result of a conspiracy and also refuted the Opposition’s allegations that the Government didn’t respond fast to the incident.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who remained absent during almost entire proceedings of the Assembly was present in the House when the Minister was giving the reply.
He said it has been proved that head mistress of Dharmasati Gandaman School Meena Kumari’s husband Arjun Rai had purchased the pesticide, monocrotophos which was later found in the meals of the children from Sidhwalia sugar factory in Gopalganj district on July 14.
It was Dharmasati Gandaman School in Masrakh area of Saran district where students had eaten the meals on July 16 and later 23 of them died due to the heavy presence of the pesticide in their meals.
Shahi said the head mistress was posted in the school in a wrongful manner by an officer of the Education Department.
Meena Kumari’s husband and his cousin brother Dhruv Rai are linked to a political party and the ongoing investigation into the tragedy will not spare anybody.
The potency of the pesticide found in the children’s meals was very high and even one drop of the pesticide could kill 1,000 rats, the Minister added.
Instead of giving valuable suggestions to the Government for improving implementation of the mid-day meal scheme in the State in a more effective manner, the Opposition parties started indulging in petty politics and even started commenting on the hairline fracture in a toe of the Chief Minister.
leader of Opposition in State Assembly Nand Kishore Prasad Yadav said the mid-day meal tragedy is a very unfortunate incident but it was more unfortunate the way the State Government is trying to protect itself after the tragedy.
Yadav said Saran district was on 36th position out of 38 districts in the State in term of the implementation of the mid-day meal scheme and even Shahi had contested the Maharajganj by-election and must had become fully aware about the pathetic condition of the scheme during his interaction with officers and common people while he was on the campaign trail. The district magistrate of Saran was busy with a meeting from 4 pm to 4.45 pm when reports of death of children in the tragedy had already started pouring in from various hospitals.
RJD member Abdul Bari Sidiqqui said that the State Government had completely failed in discharging its duty after the mid-day meal tragedy.
“Who will take the responsibility of the tragedy, whether the Government or other parties — RJD, BJP, CPI or Congress should take the responsibility,” he commented.
He said that Nitish Kumar has no regret for the incident otherwise he would have sacked the State Education Minister long back. He also demanded a CBI probe into the incident by stating that the Centre should also take the blame for the tragedy.