Students find lizard in midday meal in Palwal

A tragedy was averted at a government middle school in Haryana’s Palwal district on Monday after students and teachers detected a dead lizard in the midday meal before it was served to the students.

Rice that was ready to be eaten is presumed to have been cooked along with the dead lizard and other insects that were noticed.

Parents and the village panchayat have protested seeking registration of an FIR against the supplier and those responsible for the lapse that could have cost lives.
Students of the middle school complained that it was not the first incident when such poisonous insects were found in their meal.

Previous ones went ignored, they said. However, the officials were quick to take action this time.

They reached the spot and took samples of the cooked meal.
Charan Singh, sarpanch of village Loha Garh said they have decided to discontinue the existing arrangement until a safe system is put in place.

“We demand strong action against those who supply the midday meal,” Singh said
The entire village has decided that the midday meal won’t be supplied to our schools anymore,” Singh said.

In the light of Bihar midday meal tragedy, students and teachers in the schools of Haryana, especially in the rural areas where monitoring of the scheme often takes a back seat,  are apprehensive of the food they get to eat.

Probe ordered

A probe has been ordered into the incident by the district authorities.

The midday meals delivered in all government schools in the district have been sent back to a private trust which is the supplier in the area.

Elsewhere in Punjab’s Guruharsahai block, over a dozen schools have declined to accept food supplies for midday meals maintaining that there were of sub-standard quality.
Often cooks and students have detected mosquitoes, flies, lizards in meals, they allege.
The school committees, panchayats and parents of children have submitted a memorandum to teachers highlighting the anomalies.