The spot report by a senior HRD ministry official on the midday meal tragedy in Gandamal village of Bihar’s Saran district has blamed the school principal for the death of more than 20 children and pointed out a systemic failure of the state government in monitoring the flagship programme.
The report — prepared after talking to parents and students — has also said there were serious problems with the storage of grains and other food items.
Ministry sources said it was likely that the cooking medium used for the soyabean subzi was predominantly pesticide. “Earlier, it was thought oil was put in a pesticide container. But it seems that the lady cook used pesticide,” a source said. According to him, the subzi looked black and even smelt differently. “But the school principal insisted the cooking medium cannot be bad since it had come from her husband’s shop. When students refused to eat, the principal scolded and forced them to eat,” the source said. Worse, he said, when children started falling sick, the principal instead of reaching out for help, panicked and fled. “Crucial one and half to two hours were lost. Had these children been rushed to hospital immediately, a few lives could have been saved,” he said, adding that the forensic report released on Saturday confirmed unusually high level of pesticide content.
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