Midday meal had pesticide

July 18, 2013

Masrakh (Chapra), Jul 18: A day after the midday meal tragedy in Chapra, the Bihar government claimed that the death of children at Dharmasati primary school, was not due to food-poisoning. Rather, the food had traces of organic phosphorous, a form of pesticide.midday_meal_copy

This was confirmed by Bihar Education Minister P K Sahi on Wednesday. He, however, could not say whether the adulteration was a deliberate act.

“Investigation is on. We will soon find out who actually carried out such a criminal activity,” said Sahi.

Meanwhile, the toll rose from 11 to 22. Thirty-one more children were shifted in a critical condition from Chapra to Patna Medical College and Hospital on Wednesday morning.

“As of now, we have information of the death of 22 children,” sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) of Masrakh Kundan Kumar told Deccan Herald on Wednesday.

The police have lodged an FIR against school headmistress Meena Kumari. She has been charged under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 328 (poisoning) and 120B (criminal conspiracy). She and her colleague are absconding.

Sahi said they suspected poisoning due to organic phosphorous as traces of insecticide were found in the food.

Doctors attending the affected children have reportedly told him that “atropine was working positively on patients which showed that some kind of poisoning had taken place.” The food samples are, however, analysed by the Forensic Science Laboratory.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal observed bandh in Saran on Wednesday to protest against the tragedy.

Another report from Gaya said one child died at Atari after consuming Vitamin A.

Madhubani incident

In a similar incident, reports from Madhubani said 50 children of a government school took ill on Wednesday after they were served food at Navtolia Middle School, Bisfi, about 22 km from Madhubani. The students alleged that the meal had a dead lizard in it.

Around 50 students complained of stomach ache and began vomitting after eating the midday meal. They were then rushed to Bisfi health centre, its medical officer in charge A K Prabhat told reporters. “All the students are out of danger,” he said.

Except for seven children, the rest have been discharged from the health centre, he said.

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News Network
April 30,2020

Hyderabad, Apr 30: A 45-day-old baby boy, who tested positive for COVID-19 when he was 20-days-old, was discharged from a state-run hospital here on Wednesday after his full recovery.

The baby from Mahabubnagar, who contracted the infection from his father, was 20-days-old at the time of admission (on April 4), a COVID-19 bulletin said.

He was discharged after being cured, it said. The baby, probably the youngest to contract the infection in the country, was treated at the state-run Gandhi hospital in the city.

State Health Minister E Rajender expressed happiness over the baby being discharged after recovery.

An official release said 35 people were discharged today and 13 of them were children.

Those who were discharged thanked the doctors and medical personnel of the hospital and the minister has lauded the doctors and other medical staff for their efforts, it said.

Among those undergoing treatment at the hospital, 10 are being treated in the ICU.

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News Network
May 14,2020

May 14: Customs officials on Wednesday intercepted China-bound consignments of raw material for masks, misdeclared as packing materials for pouches, in large quantities, a senior official said.

It has also seized multiple shipments containing 5.08 lakh masks, 57 litres of sanitiser and 952 PPE kits bound for the US, the UK and the UAE, the official said.

The export of such goods is prohibited by the government in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"On the basis of specific intelligence, 2,480 kg of raw material for masks was intercepted by air cargo export, Delhi Customs. The goods were misdeclared as packing materials for pouches and were being illegally attempted to be smuggled/ exported to China," he said. 

These goods are prohibited for export as per the latest guidelines issued by the Directorate General of Foreign trade (DGFT), he said, adding that investigation into the case is under progress.

In another catch, the air cargo officers intercepted multiple shipments containing 5.08 lakh masks, 57 litres of sanitiser in 950 bottles and 952 PPE kits at the courier terminal in New Delhi. These were attempted to be smuggled or exported out of the country, the official said.

"These goods are also prohibited for export," he added. 

These items were being illegally exported to the United States, United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. "No arrests have been made so far," the official said.

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News Network
March 27,2020

New Delhi, Mar 27: The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 17 in the country on Friday and the number of coronavirus cases climbed to 724, according to the Health Ministry. In its updated figures at 9.15 am, the ministry stated that four deaths were reported from Maharashtra while Gujarat had registered three deaths.

Karnataka has reported two deaths so far, while Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Punjab, Delhi, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh have reported one death each.

According to the data, the number of active COVID-19 cases in the country stood at 640, while 66 people were either cured or discharged and one had migrated. The total number of 724 cases included 47 foreign nationals, the ministry said.

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