About 100 schoolchildren in the Indian state of Bihar have been taken to the hospital after eating poisoned food.
The incident took place in Emona Middle School Ward No. 21 of Jogbani Nagar Parishad on Saturday.
The Hindustan Times reported, with reference to authorities, that a dead snake was allegedly found in the children’s lunch.
Araria district education officer (DEO) Rajkumar said that all the schoolchildren who had eaten the food have been shifted to the sub-divisional hospital and are fortunately safe.
He further said that an inquiry into the matter has been started, and those responsible will not be spared.
The DEO said that an NGO was given the responsibility of providing the midday meals.
We are looking into this matter seriously. If this NGO is found guilty, its licence will be revoked.
However, he said that it seems that the NGO is negligent in this matter.
After this incident, the officials of the education department also met the teachers of the school.
“We have complained several times about this NGO providing poor food, but we have not heard anything,” the teachers said.
On the other hand, an official of the NGO said on condition of anonymity that “we do not know how the dead snake got into the food.”
It should be remembered that in November last year, 200 children in a school in Bugalpur fell ill after eating lunch.