The state cabinet on Tuesday approved the construction of kitchen sheds in all primary schools even as the Opposition boycotted the government’s reply during a special debate on the midday meal tragedy.
Sources said each kitchen shed — in 7,276 primary schools in the state — would be constructed at Rs 1.5 lakh of which the Centre would give Rs 60,000 and the state would bear Rs 90,000. A total of around Rs 109 crore would be spent on the project.
During the special debate on the meal tragedy, education minister P.K. Shahi, explained why the amount meant for kitchen sheds remained unused and was returned to the Centre. He said the Centre released the money in 2008-09 on the basis of calculation made on 2006-07 prices.
At the House, the BJP and Congress refused to hear a reply on the issue from anyone except chief minister Nitish Kumar. “The meal tragedy and Bodhgaya blasts have brought disrepute to the state. The chief minister, discharging all duties, should come to the House and reply on the issue. The chief minister and his government must take responsibility for the deaths of 23 innocent children. We will not hear the education minister’s reply. We will hear only the chief minister’s reply,” said Sushil Kumar Modi before walking out of the Council with his party members.
State BJP president Mangal Pandey said: “Twenty-three children died and the chief minister is mum. Where has the chief minister gone? When will he speak? We want the CM’s reply only. We are walking out of the House.”
Demanding the framing of compensation policy, Pandey demanded a compensation of Rs 10 lakh and a government job for each of victim’s family.
Ghulam Gaus of RJD said it took 14 hours to take the ailing children to Patna Medical College and Hospital, thus exposing the government’s tall claims of reaching Patna from Purnea in six hours.
Opposition parties in the state have accused the Nitish-led government of trying to influence the ongoing investigation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the tragedy.
The accusation comes a day after Shahi gave a statement in the Assembly pinpointing Arjun Rai and Dhruva Rai, indicating their role in mixing poison in the midday meal that led to children’s death.
Nitish avoided any such comment and was reported having said that SIT was probing the case. “An impartial probe into the incident would put the government in the dock, hence the ruling party is projecting the conspiracy theory in its bid to influence the inquiry,” Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Nand Kishore Yadav said on Tuesday.
He said Shahi had been saying so right from the beginning of the case even before a formal investigation began.
RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui said: “The chief minister heads the government. How can he distance himself from the statement of his minister that too given on the floor of the House?” He said if the government was really interested in an impartial inquiry into the incident, it should go for a CBI probe. “Given the fact that a minister is talking about conspiracy theory even before completion of the SIT investigation, one cannot rule out that efforts are being made to influence it,” he added.
The government, however, justified Shahi’s statement, claiming that he was just talking about apprehensions and what had come out during the course of investigation so far.
“His statement is not going to influence the probe. Moreover, police report to the home department and not the education department,” said a senior member of the Nitish government, Bijendra Yadav.
An SIT member, however, refused to be drawn into the controversy. “We just share that much information with the government which has already come to the fore. We are not concerned with the manner in which facts are presented,” he added.Even former director-general of police Neel Mani said there was nothing wrong in sharing information with the government that has already come to the fore. “Such sharing never affects the course of investigation,” he said.
