Amritsar: Insects, worms found in mid-day meal kitchen

Amritsar: Even as the country grapples with the death of 23 children in Bihar after being poisoned by the free lunch at their school, another such case has come to light in Amritsar.

The district administration in Amritsar today found unhygienic mid-day meals were served to students. District Civil Surgeon Yash Mittra said cooking ingredients were found stored in dirty places near building material at various government schools which was extremely dangerous to kids' health.

Teams which raided the schools also found insects in raw material used to prepare the meals at some schools, Mr Mittra said.

The students have alleged that the oil being used for cooking the meal has been found to be contaminated; the water too is not potable.

"We have worms and insects in our food. And the water too is really dirty," said Priyanka, a student.

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This latest incident was reported on a day when more than 100 girls of a government school in Neyvelli in Tamil Nadu were rushed to hospital after their mid-day meal left them sick.

Local officials say that the children, between 9 and 16 years of age, are not in danger and that the hot lunch served to them was most likely contaminated.

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The girls had complained of giddiness and nausea soon after they ate lunch. Officials suspect they were served contaminated eggs.

A mid-day meal, infected with insecticide, served at a school in Chhapra in Bihar has killed 23 children. Another 25 are still in hospital there; they are likely to be discharged either today or tomorrow, said doctors.

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Since the Bihar midday meal tragedy, horror stories have been coming.