25 kids ill after eating mid-day meal, 15 after eating wild fruit

Patna: At least 25 children fell ill Saturday after having their mid-day meal at a government school in Bihar, while 15 fell ill on the same day after consuming wild fruit in a village, officials said.

The 25 children complained of uneasiness after consuming their meal of khichri and chokha at the Boknari middle school near Paraiya in Gaya district, and were examined at a hospital, school headmaster Rajnish Kumar Ranjan told IANS over phone.

"All the children are now safe," he said.

Ranjan said around 200 children had the same meal.

"Two hours after they ate, some children informed us of pain in their stomachs and getting nauseous," he said. Samples of the meal were collected by police.

Some parents said they strongly suspected something in the meal served to their children. But the headmaster refuted it.

"It is a rumour. I have requested the district authorities to inquire into it," he said.

The headmaster said the doctors who examined the children did not find any sign of poison in their bodies.

Meanwhile, at least 15 children fell ill Saturday after consuming wild fruit in Domohani village in Kishanganj district, about 400 km from Patna. They were admitted to a government hospital and were said to be out of danger.

"We will monitor the condition of these children for the next 72 hours (three days), said Sanjeev Kumar, the doctor treating the children.

In the past, dead lizards, frogs, insects and also a dead rat have been found in food cooked in schools in Bihar.

On July 16 last year, 23 students died after eating poisonous meal in a primary school at Dharmasati Gandaman village in Saran district.

A forensic report confirmed the presence of toxic insecticide strains in the cooking oil used for making food at the school.

The mid-day meal scheme is running in 72,000 schools across Bihar, and 16 million students avail meals cooked under the scheme.