Even as Goa Friday became the latest to grab headlines in midday meal tragedy after Bihar, Delhi, Bengal and Tamil Nadu, the Bihar catastrophe in which 23 little kids lost their lives to food poisoning has sparked a fresh blame game with the Bihar Friday refuting the Centre's assertion of having sent alerts to 12 districts including Saran, where the tragedy struck, over shortcomings in the implementation of the scheme.

 

"We are surprised over the assertions of the Centre over sending alerts…no alerts ever came to us," secretary HRD Amarjeet Sinha told reporters in Patna. The Union HRD ministry, which pilots the programme, claimed that it had alerted 12 Bihar districts after loopholes were detected in executing the scheme. Sinha said a general communique had come in April regarding poor performance in coverage of midday meal scheme in 144 districts of the country.

 

"The letter dated April 18, 2013 written by Amarjit Singh, additional secretary at the Union HRD ministry, pointed to the reasons for poor coverage of the scheme in 144 districts of the country and had asked officials to take steps to enroll more students in the programme," Sinha said. In fact, a Central report praised performance of Bihar in increasing coverage area under midday meal scheme, Sinha accompanied by director, midday meal scheme R Lakshamanan said.

 

As per the 2012 annual status of education report, the coverage area in Bihar of the programme which was 57.2 per cent in 2010 increased to 75 per cent last year, Sinha said. Meanwhile, the principal of the Chhapra school where the 23 children, most of them under 10 years of age, died after eating mid-day meal, and her grocer husband, evaded arrest for the fourth day.

 

"Police are conducting searches and have also spoken to relatives of the absconding principal, Meena Devi, and her grocer husband Arjun Rai but they are yet to be arrested," Saran SP Sujit Kumar said. An FIR has been lodged against the principal in connection with Tuesday's tragedy in which 23 students, lost their lives after eating food served to them in the school.

 

The principal and her husband, from whose shop she had purchased the cooking oil suspected to be laced with insecticide, have fled after the incident. Their house at  Dharmasati Gandaman village in Mashrakh block, about 50 km from Chhapra, is also locked.

 

Meanwhile, Saran district magistrate Abhijit Sinha said though mid-day meal is being provided to students as usual, in majority of the schools, he had received inputs of a number of children not taking the food out of fear. Asked about the Forensic Science Lab report on whether the food served at the school had contained poisonous pesticide, Amarjeet Sinha said the lab test was taking more time and the report is expected either by tomorrow.

 

Meanwhile,  in New Delhi, the Union HRD ministry said it is finalising a report on the tragedy and it is expected to be submitted by next Tuesday. In Madhepura, two women cooks, who had fainted after tasting mid-day meal at a government school, were discharged from hospital Friday.

 

Rita Devi and Renu Devi were discharged this afternoon after their condition improved, said AK Verma, in-charge district civil surgeon at the district hospital. The duo had cooked the food for the school situated at Khar village in Gamariah block of the district, 21 km from Patna.

 

When the children refused to take the food because of foul smell and the principal asking them to throw it, the two tasted the food and fainted. Madhepura incident came on the heels of midday meals tragedy in Saran and another one at Madhubani where 50 students were taken ill after eating food served to them in government middle school Navtolia in Bisfi block.