Mid-day Meal Deaths in Bihar,India Tuesday July 16,2013

Nine primary school children lost their lives and nearly 50 others fell seriously ill after eating mid-day meal in Bihar’s Saran district on Tuesday Jult 16,2013.All affected children, aged between three and 12, were admitted to the government hospital in Chapra, Saran.

 “The children were admitted with symptoms of poisoning such as fever, vomiting, abdominal pain and frothing at the mouth.”
The children died of “food poisoning and yellow phosphorous poisoning,” district civil surgeon Shambhunath Singh told

The menu in the Gandaman primary school in Jajauli panchayat in Mashrakh block consisted of rice, dal and potato and soyabean vegetable. “Since this is a newly-established school, it did not have a building and was operating from the panchayat bhavan.

The school, established in 2010, had an enrolment of 89 children, of whom 58 were present on Tuesday

Local people suspected the oil used in preparing the meal to be the cause. “I used about 250 mg mustard oil. I did not find anything wrong with the food when I ate it, but I am not sure about the oil,” cook Manju Kumari said from her hospital bed in Patna

Bihar CN Nitish Kumar promised strict action against those responsible for the incident. The Divisional Commissioner of Chapra and the Deputy Inspector-General of Police will conduct a joint probe and submit a report .The State government announced a compensation of Rs. 2 lakh to each of the families of the deceased children.

Human Resource Development Ministry said senior officer Amarjeet Singh was rushed to Bihar for assessing the situation at the place of incident.

Death Toll Rises to 22 Wednesday July 17,2013

The death toll in the midday meal tragedy at Chapra in Bihar’s Saran district rose to 22 on Wednesday and preliminary inquiries suggest that a high level of organic phosphorus content in the meal could have caused the deaths of the children at Gandaman Primary School

Submit report, Centre tells Bihar

The Human Resource Development Ministry has sought a report from the Bihar government on Tuesday’s mid-day meal tragedy in Chapra in which 22 children died.

“It is a very sad incident and we are deeply pained at the loss of lives of children,” HRD Minister M.M. Pallam Raju told on Wednesday July 17,2013

Chapra on the boil after mid-day meal disaster

Widespread protests erupted in Chapra, Saran district, on Wednesday July 17,2013 after 22 children died from poisoning after consuming a mid-day meal in their school on Tuesday July 16,2013

Political parties who flayed both the government for its delay in responding to the tragedy, and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his silence over the issue, called for a bandh in Chapra
A complete bandh was observed in Chapra as all Opposition parties took to the streets