PATNA, India (AP) — At least 20 children died and many others were
sick after eating a free school lunch that was tainted by a heavy dose
of insecticide, Indian officials said Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear how chemicals ended up in the food in a
school in the eastern state of Bihar, though one official said the
food may not have been properly washed before it was cooked.
The children, between the ages of 8 and 11, fell ill Tuesday soon
after eating their school lunch in Masrakh, a village 80 kilometers
(50 miles) north of the state capital of Patna. School authorities
immediately stopped serving the meal of rice, lentils, soya and
potatoes as the children started vomiting. The lunch, part of a
popular country-wide campaign to give at least one hot meal to
children from poor families, was cooked in the school kitchen.
The children were quickly rushed to a local hospital and later to
Patna for treatment, said state official Abhijit Sinha.
In addition to the 20 children who died, another 27 children as well
as the school cook have been hospitalized, he said. Ten of them were
in serious condition.
Authorities suspended an official in charge of the free meal scheme in
the school and registered a case of criminal negligence against the
school headmaster, who fled as soon as the children fell ill.
P.K. Sahi, the state education minister, said a preliminary
investigation suggested the food had traces of an organophosphate used
as an insecticide on rice and wheat crops. It's believed the grain was
not washed before it was served at the school, he said.
However, local villagers said the problem appeared to be with a side
dish of soya and potatoes. Children who had not eaten that dish were
fine, although they had eaten the rice and lentils, the villagers
said.
India's midday meal scheme is one of the world's biggest school
nutrition programs. State governments have the freedom to decide on
menus and timings of the meals depending on local conditions and
availability of food rations. It was first introduced in southern
India, where it was seen as an incentive for poor parents to send
their children to school.
Since then the program has been replicated across the country covering
some 120 million school children as part of an effort to address
concerns about malnutrition. According to the government, nearly half
of all Indian children suffer from malnutrition.
Although there have been occasional complaints about the quality of
the food served, or the lack of hygiene, the tragedy in Bihar appeared
to be the worst associated with the massive food program.
Bihar's top elected official, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, has ordered
an inquiry into the
deaths.
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