20 students of Jamshedpur school hospitalized after consuming lizard-laced food

Kasidih Aryavedic Madhya Vidyalaya

Jamshedpur, March 12: In a shocking case of negligence, about 20 students of Aryavedic Madhya Vidyalaya Kasidih fell ill and were rushed to MGM Medical College and Hospital fearing food poisoning due to a lizard allegedly found in midday meal today.

The school received their food from the Ramdas Bhatta based centralised kitchen run by Annamrita Foundation, a wing of Iskcon on Monday morning but students alleged that they spotted a lizard in a plate after the teachers started distributing food at around 1 pm. To avoid any risk, headmaster of the school Ashok Kumar Singh took 20 students between KG and II who had consumed the food by then.

12 of the students were released from the hospital after first aid while 8 are still admitted and all the ill students are reportedly out of danger. The school has 243 students.

” Trust me nobody was serious but we didn’t want to take any risk. So, we rushed them to MGM Hospital. The students felt bad when they saw a lizard in food. So, I informed the parents and rushed the students to hospital,” said Singh.

Some students along with their parents had come to the MGM Hospital. Some were discharged after an initial round of check up.

Doctors treating the children at MGM Hospital said students complained of stomach ache but it was nothing serious. All students were released after a few hours.

” I am aware of the incident. But students were fine. We would look into the matter. There is already a committee investigating the matter. The Annamrita Foundation always claim that food at their kitchen is prepared in huge utensils and boilers. May be it happened during transportation or it was in the utensils,” said district superintendent of education (DSE) Banke Bihari Singh.

The Iskcon Food Relief Foundation started its pilot project in the city on April 2012 though the foundation stone was laid by chief minister Arjun Munda in July 2011. The Rs 4.28 crore kitchen is a collaboration with Tata Steel.

Tata Steel provides the infrastructure that would be required for successful rollout of the Mid-Day Meal Programme while ISKCON Food Relief Foundation, an NGO that provides top-class Mid-Day Meal Services in various towns and cities across the country, takes charge of the day-to-day management of the programme.