Pune, July 24: Case against self-help group that supplied food, authorities trade charges
As many as 127 students of Dr Zakir Hussain Urdu Primary School were taken ill on Friday after they consumed the mid-day meals at the school. Of them, 57 have been admitted to Sahyadri Hospital, Bopodi, while the rest were discharged after treatment.
The events unfurled around 2.30 pm, when the students who consumed the meal started complaining of stomach pain. “At first, six kids from Dr Zakir Hussain Urdu Primary School were brought in around 2.30 pm with complaints of stomach pain and vomiting… 57 more were admitted to the hospital later while 64 kids were given treatment in the OPD. None of them are critical now. Their condition is improving,” a hospital statement said.
Meanwhile, a blame game has begun. The civic education board put the onus on the Urban Community Development department of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) that allots the responsibility of supplying meals to a self-help group while the civic body maintained that it was the duty of the education board to ensure that good quality food is served to students.
The contract for the mid-day meal scheme was given to a self-help group federation set up by the Urban Community Development of the PMC; and around 170 women self-help groups are part of the federation.
“The quality of food served to students of Dr Zakir Hussain Urdu School was very bad; it had dead maggots and flies in it. The food was supplied to 319 students. Of those taken ill, 57 students are still admitted to a city hospital,” PMC education board chairman Sangeeta Tiwari said.
She said the education board had given directives to provide all medical services to students at its expense. It has also filed a police complaint against the office-bearers of the self-help group that supplied food to students. “I have been writing to the municipal commissioner, who is also the chairman of the mid-day meal scheme, on the poor quality of food provided to civic school students, but nothing has been done so far.”
Despite efforts, the municipal commissioner could not be contacted.
Urban Community Development department in-charge Vilas Kanade said the services of the group that served the food had been terminated with immediate effect and the other groups had been asked to take utmost care. “The civic body has been terminating the services of those groups against whom complaints were made. Most of these groups provide good service and they cannot be blamed because of one instance.”
The government supplies the raw material for the mid-day meal scheme, aimed at discouraging students from dropping out of schools. The raw material is provided from the public distribution system while an agency appointed by each authority cooks and supplies food to students at Rs 2-Rs 4 a meal. It is the education board that disburses the money to the agency.
A team from Khadki police, which rushed to the spot, has collected and sent the food samples for analysis. “An investigation is on. We will lodge an offence against those who cooked the food. We are waiting for the analysis of food samples,” said inspector Vilas Gawli.
–Agencies–