The oven on which the meal was cooked. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, July 17: Thousands of students in 1,650 and odd primary schools in Patna, Vaishali, Nalanda, Begusarai and Gaya would not be able to get midday meal (MDM) from Thursday.

Delhi-based non-government organisation Ekta Shanti Foundation on Wednesday withdrew its operations in the five districts. The foundation, however, does not function in Saran district.

Rajnikant Pathak, the vice-president of Ekta Shanti Foundation, said the move to withdraw the services was taken as a “precautionary” measure in light of the Saran incident.

“In a letter to the director of the MDM directorate on Wednesday, we have stated that we have suspended our services for distribution of midday meals in the five districts from Thursday,” said Pathak.

Apart from the five districts in Bihar, Ekta Foundation has been doing the midday meal work in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

“We have taken the decision because the condition of the MDM scheme in Bihar has become very risky after the Saran incident. We have been informed that similar incidents have been reported in Madhubani and Gaya as well. We apprehend that there might be some political conspiracy going on in the midday meal sector in Bihar that might damage our reputation in other states,” said Pathak.

Pathak informed that they have set up centralised kitchens in all five districts from where they serve midday meals to schools.

In another aftermath of the Saran tragic episode, the MDM cell in Vaishali on Wednesday asked all schools in the districts to get the midday meal tasted by the principals and members of Vidyalaya Shiksha Samiti prior to its distribution.

“The MDM directorate in 2012 had issued a circular that stated that midday meals should be tasted personally by principals and members of the Vidyalaya Shiksha Samiti of the schools concerned prior to distribution among students. In the wake of the Saran incident, we found it necessary to re-circulate the notice among all the schools in the district to avoid such grave incidents here,” said an MDM cell officer in Vaishali.

The move to get the midday meal tasted was supported by Ekta Shanti Foundation as well. “At present, we have suspended our operations for an indefinite period,” said Pathak.