Mid-day horror grips India

As panic spread and more cases related to mid-day meal sickness poured in from across the country, children in various places of Bihar on Thursday refused to eat mid-day meal.

Reports said that in several districts, including Chhapra, Patna and Nawada, there were no takers for the free meal served as inducement to bring poor children to schools.

The mid-day tragedy which claimed 23 lives in Bihar does not seem to be a one-off incident. As the Bihar case fuelled food safety concerns, more cases of children falling ill after consuming free food or contaminated water have come to light from Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Maharasthra and Bihar.

In a separate incident, two women who ate the food cooked by them for a mid-day meal programme for students of a Government school in Bihar’s Madhepura district fainted, District Magistrate Upendra Kumar said. None of the students consumed the food as a foul smell emanated, he said. At least 50 children had fallen sick after eating food served to them in a Madhubani school on Wednesday.

Eight students, including seven girls, of a Delhi Government-run school in North-West Delhi fell ill after allegedly being given folic acid and iron supplements under a newly launched Government scheme.

In Odisha, at least 12 students — aged between 7 and 15 years — fell sick after taking food at a government-aided hostel for poor students in Nilagiri area in Balasore district, officials said. Several inmates of Bapuji Seva Sadan hostel at Mitrapur complained of nausea, vomiting and stomach pain after having dinner on the night of July 16, they said quoting a delayed report. The affected students were admitted to two hospitals and are stable.

As the quality of mid-day meal comes under scanner and TV channel highlights presence of insects and worms in the food, in a Government school located on outskirts of Patna, children brought food from home and refused to eat the mid-day meal served at their school. Students said that their parents have strictly asked them not to eat mid-day meal and instead packed tiffin boxes for them.

Similarly, students of a Government school in Nawada district also refused to eat mid-day meal as they are totally scared of the Saran incident. Reports of children either refusing to eat mid-day meal or their reluctance to consume mid-day meal have been received from other parts of the State too.

Meanwhile, Bihar Social Welfare Minister Praveen Amanullah was attacked on Thursday by an irate mob, agitated over the mid-day meal tragedy in Saran district. The mob held up for some time and pelted stones on car, breaking glasses of the vehicle in the process.

She was on her way to Muzaffarpur from Patna when protesters held her for some time. Agitators had blockaded the National Highway 77 near Rai Birendra College, about five km from Hajipur town in protest against the mid-day meal tragedy. Later, the police personnel escorted her to safety but the Minister was forced to cancer her programme in Muzaffarpur and returned to Patna after the incident.