The Centre has indicted the Saran District Administration for the mid-day meal tragedy which claimed 23 innocent lives last week in Chhapra.The Central team has not supported the claims made by Bihar Education Minister PK Shahi that the children were deliberately poisoned.
The report has said that had the children been provided with medical attention immediately, their lives would have been saved.The report also said it was the principal who forced the students to eat the meal despite their complaints that it was not edible. The report also said there was no medication available to treat the children when they first manifested signs of uneasiness.
The report has suggested that apart from proper implementation of the mega Mid-Day Meal Scheme (MDMS) which serves 11 crore children every day, a first-aid kit and a local doctor on call should be made mandatory.
When asked if the tragedy was an act of deliberate poisoning, a top official of the HRD Ministry said the report has no mention of such a conspiracy. Meanwhile, a Chhapra court issued an arrest warrant against the absconding principal on Monday.
The State Government has terminated the services of Block Education Extension Officer who was responsible for monitoring the scheme at Dharmasati Gandaman Primary School at Chhapra.
On the other hand, for the first time, the HRD Ministry will hold a video conference with all the State/UT Education Departments on Tuesday morning, to review and take stock of the MDMS.
School Education Secretary R Bhattacharya will hold a video conference with all State Education Secretaries, Principal Secretaries over the issue and will discuss with them the problem areas, review funding and expenditure on the MDMS in each school.
A top HRD Ministry official said the enquiry report was submitted to HRD Minister M Pallam Raju on Saturday. The report has been prepared by HRD Additional Secretary (Elementary Education-MDMS) Amarjit Singh who was sent by the Centre immediately after the incident.
Singh, who spent almost three days at the spot enquiring from students, locals, parents and other people on the MDMS committee of the State Government, has also based his report on feedback from the District Magistrate, Superintendent of Police and Sub-Divisional Officer, Chhapra.
Singh is the same officer who just a week before the incident had praised Bihar over its MDMS implementation and asked all other States to emulate Bihar’s model. Ministry sources said reports indicted the principal of the school who forced the children to consume the meal even after they complained of a foul smell. It pointed that the dal was kept in a container which was used for storing pesticides, which led to the tragedy.
Simultaneously, it has questioned the need to provide mid-day meals separately in three different schools located in close proximity when the children could have been fed at one place. The two-teacher (including principal) school where the incident happened was being run at a community centre, and in the vicinity of the same school, there was another primary school, which also served mid-day meals.
“There may be a policy review and one centre within a radius of one kilometer will be designated for serving of the mid-day meal. More than three to four people will taste the food and give their opinion before the food is served,” said a HRD official.
Meanwhile RJD chief and former Union Minister lalu Prasad Yadav is likely to meet Raju on Thursday and discuss the measures taken by the Centre to prevent such a tragedy in future.Yadav is the lok Sabha MP from the district where the tragedy was reported last week, and he has been blaming the Nitish Kumar Government for the incident.