Hinjilicut: At least 10 students of Hinjili-based Chandrasekhar Marg Primary School here in Ganjam district were hospitalised after consuming spurious mid-day meal (MDM) Saturday. The incident was reported after a scorpion was found in the food served to the students.
The students were admitted to Hinjilicut community health centre where their condition was reported to be stable after treatment. On learning the incident, block education officer Reshamlal Nayak along with Nageswar Pradhan and N Harishankar reached the school and conducted a probe.
The team recorded the statements of school headmistress Jyotsnamayee Tripathy, the cook and the students. The guardians condemned the negligence of Manna Trust that is responsible for cooking food for the students.
As usual, the trust after preparing the food delivered it to the school. Over 50 students out of 133 were served the food. Meanwhile, a Class V girl, Priyadarshini Gouda, found a scorpion in her food. She alerted the headmistress who prevented the students from taking the food.
Meanwhile, over 10 students had already taken the meals. Among the students were Priyadarshini Gouda (10), Preeti Behera (9), Sriyanshi Senapati (8), Srimani Sabat (8), Mantu Panda (6), Naresh Gouda (7), Sibaram Patra (10) and Balram Gouda (9). PNN
