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It came as an extreme shock as on Black Tuesday 20 kids dead and around 80 fell ill after taking the mid-day meal at a primary school in Saran district of Bihar. The officials said that the poisoning is caused either by insecticides or the use of contaminated mustard oil. The children fell ill soon after eating the meal, which consisted of rice, pulse and soyabean, police said. The tragic incident happened at Dharmasati Primary School has put the villagers and parents under shock and grieve.At the same time protests has been noticed in the village and other parts of the district. In order to take political advantage of the tragedy Rashtriya Janata Dal has gone ahead with one day bandh on Wednesday in Chhapra. On the other hand Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has ordered a probe into the deaths and announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the family of each dead kid. Of this, Rs 1.5 lakh is from the Disaster Management Fund and Rs 50,000 from CM's Relief Fund.Sources in the CMO said a Forensic Science Laboratory team will assist in the probe, which will be conducted jointly by Saran Divisional Commissioner and DIG.
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| Mid-day Meal Tragedy |
The tragedy took place at the government primary school in Dahrmasati Gandawan village at Mashrakh block, about 25 km from Chhapra and 60 km from state capital Patna. Twenty seven others, including the woman cook, were taken seriously ill and have been shifted to Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH), said Principal Secretary Education Department Amarjit Sinha. While 16 children, aged below 10 years and studying in Class I to V, had died in Chhapra itself, four others were declared dead on arrival at PMCH late last night, Sinha said. Superintendent of PMCH Amarkant Jha Azad said that the victims were admitted to ICU of paediatric department and senior doctors were attending on them round the clock.
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| Parents outside a hospital |
The protests, statements of officials, political wars among parties and setting up the enquiry committees usually happen after such awful incident, but nothing can fill the void created in the lives of parents who have lost their children. Mid-day meal project has always been in controversy due to its ill-management by states. The poor quality food materials used in cooking the mid-day meal cause food poisoning that leave the kids ill or even dead like this case. There are several reports that the corrupt scheme coordinator and head master of primary schools are making money from the mid-day meal project by putting the lives of students in danger. Hardly few schools follow the standard menu and norms defined in the mid-day meal scheme. The Centre and State governments must bring strong norms for mid-day meal project and proper monitoring process for the concerned officials. Unless the Black Tuesday like Saran can happen in any school across the country.
