A vehicle set ablaze by a mob in protest against the death of children in Chhapra on Wednesday. (PTI)

Patna/Chhapra, July 17: Protesters blocked all roads to Dharmasati Gandaman village on Wednesday, a day after 22 children died after having midday meal at a school.

“Chhapra will not rest till those responsible are taken to task. We don’t want any leader to go to the village and shed crocodile tears,” protesters on the Patna-Chhapra road said.

By the side of a manned railway crossing, 15 km from the village, senior BJP leaders, including former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, leader of the opposition Nand Kishore Yadav, BJP state president Mangal Pandey and Janardan Singh Sirgiwal were seen wiping off sweat from their foreheads as a huge crowd surrounded them.

“We are sitting here for half an hour now. Heavy vehicles and agitators have blocked all roads leading to the village. This railway crossing, too, has been locked up. We wanted to meet the victims’ kin but can’t even reach the village,” Mangal Pandey said. A while later, they got into their vehicles and turned back to Patna.

Earlier, Yadav and Modi said the Nitish Kumar government should quit immediately.

Burning tyres and agitating men greeted those headed for Chhapra. “Not a single vehicle will be allowed to pass through. This is a blot on the face of the state government, which is giving wrong figures of the number of dead,” a middle-aged man shouted as they stopped a vehicle from passing near Maujampur, some 45km from Chhapra. Schools along the route remained shut.

“Corruption abounds in the midday meal scheme. There are fixed menus six days a week, but the local administration and school principals ignore it. On most days, students are served just khichdi. The money goes into the pockets of principal and other officials. Any government school principal can easily make an extra Rs 10,000 by embezzling midday meal funds,” a government schoolteacher in Saran who was among the protesters, told The Telegraph.

He also said substandard foodgrains and ingredients are bought. “Every official is hand in glove. Almost every day, children complain of bad food or a lizard in the meal. The state and the Centre are not serious and are just minting money,” the teacher said. Amar (8), a student at the Kinwar Toli Primary School in Masrakh block, concurs. “We’re served tasteless khichdi five days a week,” he said.