50 students fall ill after consuming mid-day meal in Odisha

Reports of a dead lizard and rotten eggs were allegedly found in the food by two different govt. schools

As many as 50 students of two government schools in Odisha’s Jajpur were taken ill after consuming mid-day meal on Saturday, officials said.

The first incident occurred at Sibantpur Upper Primary School under Haridaspur panchayat of Dharmasala block, they said.

The meal was served at about 10 am in the school and about 40 students were vomiting, feeling nauseous and complaining of stomach pain after consuming it, an official said.

They were immediately rushed to the nearby Dharmasala community health centre (CHC) and treated.

According to a preliminary enquiry, a dead lizard was found in dalma (pulses cooked with vegetables), served to the students in the mid-day meal, Dharmasala block education officer Prafulla Kumar Behera said.

In another incident, 10 students of Bamphu Mangarajpur Nodal School were rushed to the same CHC with similar complaints, the official said.

Rotten eggs were allegedly served to the students in the mid-day meal, he said.

Behera said all the students were discharged from the heath centre after preliminary treatments.

Samples of food, served to the students, have been collected and sent to a laboratory for tests, he said, adding that the matter is “under investigation and appropriate action would be taken, if anyone is found guilty”.