DM orders probe, seeks report within 48 hours after dead snake found in mid-day meal in Bihar’s Araria

Children hospitalised as precaution have been discharged, says Araria DM, adds action will be taken against those found guilty.

Representational image | Commons

Patna: As many as 116 students were hospitalised after some of them fell ill upon consuming khichdi served in the mid-day meal at a government school in Bihar’s Araria district Saturday. 

“Since the children were panicking, we got all of them hospitalised. All of them were discharged by Sunday morning,” Araria District Magistrate Inayat Khan told ThePrint over the phone Sunday. Khan said 18 children had been served their meal when a staff member serving it noticed a dead snake, around eight inches long, in the khichdi.

By then, some of the students had started throwing up even as others waited for their turn. The school then stopped serving the meal, which led to panic among students. As a precautionary measure, all the students were rushed to a government hospital, she added. 

Khan said her team of officials has inspected the kitchen of the NGO tasked with cooking the meals. “I have asked the sub-divisional officer of the district to submit a report within 48 hours and then we will initiate action against those found guilty,” she said.

She added that the dead snake was sent to the forensic lab to ascertain if it was venomous. Dr R. Raza of Forbesganj sub-divisional hospital, where the children were being treated, said that the children were scared but medically fit. “Most of the children were discharged within a couple of hours,” she told ThePrint over the phone Sunday.

As word about the incident spread, over a hundred angry villagers reportedly surrounded the school and vandalised its gate. Faculty and other staff members had to shut themselves inside to protect themselves from irate parents.

However, local officials arrived on the scene and pacified the agitated villagers in time. A police force was then deployed inside the school for security purposes.

On 18 May this year, a dead lizard was found in the mid-day meal served in Bihar’s Saran district. Around 35 children fell ill after consuming the meal. 

Similarly, in July 2014, 23 school children had died in Saran district after consuming a mid-day meal allegedly contaminated with pesticides. Following the incident, the government had assured that covered kitchens would be constructed in all the 70,000-odd schools in the state where mid-day meals are served.

(Edited by Smriti Sinha)