Puja at home. Picture by Amit Biswas

Krishnagar, April 29: The family of a six-year-old girl who had tumbled into a tub of steaming starch in school has thrown back at the Nadia authorities the Rs 5,000 offered as compensation.

Little Puja’s parents, who have spent around Rs 10,000 on her treatment over the past month, want the money to be used to build a kitchen in her school instead.

“We told the officials the money cannot cover the teachers’ lack of responsibility. They should build a proper kitchen in the school so that no child falls into boiling starch again,” her grandfather Kashinath Nag told The Telegraph.

In the absence of a kitchen, the mid-day meal for children is cooked in the cramped school courtyard where over 100 children play during the break.

Class I student Puja fell into the open tub minutes before the meal was to be served at Udaychandpur Primary School in Bethuadahari.

Her father Tapas Nag, a farmer who also runs a paan shop, struggled to gather the money for her treat-ment.

The girl, who suffered 50 per cent burns and can barely walk now, still needs medicines worth around Rs 200 a day. The medication has to continue for some time.

Tapas has borrowed Rs 4,000 from a friend for the treatment. He might have to ask for more. “We needed the money, but I felt embarrassed taking it,” he said.

Officials from the Nadia primary school council came to Puja’s home last week and offered the compensation.

Council chairman Bibhas Biswas said: “Since they have refused the money, we have decided to spend it to develop the school’s infrastructure.”

He promised a “proper kitchen” with a drain to dispose of the starch after the cooking.

Biswas had earlier said: “It is the teachers’ duty to look after students in a primary school. The teachers of Udaychandpur Primary School neglected their duty.”

An inquiry is on into whether the teachers were responsible for the incident.

The four teachers of the school were apparently evaluating answer scripts when Puja, playing catch-me-if-you-can with friends, was scalded on March 13.

“During a hearing, the teachers said they were sorry for the incident but they had been busy correcting answer scripts. The inquiry is on,” Biswas added.

Tapas said: “She still cannot walk and often cries out in pain.”

Block medical officer Vivek Das said Puja needs care. “Her injury will take time to heal. She should be protected very carefully against infection. She has to visit us once a week for a check-up,” said Das.

The family’s refusal to accept money as compensation is a throwback to the aftermath of the Malegaon blasts of 2006. Some of the victims’ families had then returned the compensation cheques offered by Sonia Gandhi.

“We don’t want money, we want justice,” the relative of a victim had said when offered Rs 1 lakh. “If the administration arrests the culprits in 24 hours, I will give you Rs 10 lakh,” Shafiq Ahmad added.