Thirty children fall ill after mid-day meal in Bihar

Patna, Feb 19 (IANS) At least 30 children fell ill Thursday after having their mid-day meal at a government school in Bihar's Vaishali district, officials said. Their condition is, however, stable.

The children complained of uneasiness after consuming the meal at Senduari Middle School, and were admitted to Sadar hospital at Hajipur, district headquarters of Vaishali, a district official said.

"All the children are now safe," he said. "All of them, except two, were discharged after preliminary treatment at the hospital," he added.

Samples of the meal have been collected by police for forensic examination. According to officials, some children said a lizard was found in the mid-day meal served to them.

However, the doctors who examined the children did not find any sign of poison in their bodies.

Officials of the education department said there have been 15 cases of poisoning in the past ten months in the state. In 2013, 23 students died after eating a meal at a primary school in Saran district.

In Bihar, 16 million students get food under the mid-day meal scheme, which covers 72,000 schools across the state.