Rat found in mid-day meal served to students in UP school

In what would show the largest state of Uttar Pradesh in poor light, students of a government inter-college in the state’s Muzaffarnagar district consumed their mid-day meal from a vessel that had a dead rat.  On account of the mishap, nine children and a teacher fell ill and were admitted to a nearby hospital.

The meal, meant for students between Class 6 and 8, had been prepared by a Hapur based NGO called Jan Kalyan Sanstha Committee.

The dead rat was found at the bottom of the vessel in which the ‘urad dal’ had been cooked.

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“By that time, many of the students had already eaten the food and had started vomiting,” said a student.

Ram Sagar Tripathi, a local education official termed the incident ‘shocking’ and said action will be taken against the concerned NGO.

Earlier too, a video from Sonabhadra surfaced where a worker could be seen mixing one-litre milk packet in a bucket of water to feed around 81 school students.

Aimed to benefit around one crore children, the mid-day meals were implemented to provide a minimum of 450 calories to each child every day, including 12 grams of protein and should be served to every child at least 200 days a year.

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(With input from agencies.)