More children refuse free meal after food poisoning incident
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E-mail Xinhua, July 20, 2013
More children have been refusing to eat free mid-day meals in schools across the eastern Indian state of Bihar while the state government has put out an advertisement in newspapers asking school principals and cooks to taste all food before serving them to students.
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Asha Devi holds her head while sitting next to her sick daughter Savita (R) who consumed spurious meals at a school on Tuesday, at a hospital in the eastern Indian city of Patna July 17, 2013.[ Photo/China Daily via agencies] |
At least 23 children, all below 12 years, are now confirmed dead due to food poisoning after eating a free mid-day school meal in Bihar state on Tuesday.
The incident took place in Dharamsati primary school in Masrakh in Saran district of Bihar, one of the poorest states of India.
Police said over 50 children aged from 5 to 12 fell sick and began vomiting and losing conscience after consuming khichdi, a local food made of rice and bean at the school for midday meal.
Some students died soon after vomiting and losing consciousness while more died after being sent to hospital for treatment. By far, 23 students died due to the poisonous food and over 20 others are still hospitalized.
Hundreds of local villagers took to the streets in protest on Wednesday. Protesters lit fires and burned four police vehicles. They also threw stones at the police station and chanted slogans denouncing the government.
Meanwhile, some parents have buried the bodies of their children in front of the school where some 100 students took the " contaminated" meals.
Bihar's Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has ordered a high-level probe into the incident and announced a compensation of 200,000 Indian rupees (4,000 U.S. dollars) each to the families of the dead children.
An inquiry report came out Friday evening concluded and blamed the school principal for the incident. The report, prepared by the Saran Police Commissioner, alleges criminal negligence by the school principal. The report has been submitted to the Ministry of Human Resource.
The report claimed the principal had purchased the cooking oil, suspected to be contaminated with insecticide, from her husband's shop.
However,the principal and her grocer husband are still absconding.
Different political parties in the country have blamed each other on the food poisoning and mid-day meal scheme.
India's mid-day meal scheme is said to be the world's largest school feeding program aimed at 120 million children across 1.2 million schools.
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