The Gandaman Primary School in Chhapra. Telegraph picture

Patna, July 20: The graves remain, a reminder of 23 lives lost at Gandaman Primary School, but the kids who survived, too, will never come back.

Four days after the midday meal tragedy in the village, the administration today decided to close the institution and merge it with a middle school, around half-a-kilometre away. While the only accused in the tragedy, Gandaman Primary School principal Meena Devi, is absconding, families are against sending their children to any school in the block.

The mention of schools angers residents of Dharmasati-Gandaman village. There are 82 primary schools and 49 middle schools in the block, said Masrakh block education officer Rudra Narayan Ram.

R. Laxmanan, the Bihar midday meal director, told The Telegraph: “At present, it is difficult to talk to the villagers. We have tendered our apologies and requested them not to stop their children’s education. The primary school was functioning from the building of a community centre. We are planning to shift it to a middle school, around half-a-kilometre away. The details need to be chalked out.” Senior state officials responsible for the Centre-sponsored midday meal scheme also said they have checked middle schools near the village.

The villagers, many at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) where 24 children are recuperating, could not care less. They are fuming over flouting of rules in the midday meal scheme.

Chandeshwar Mahto, grandfather of 10-year-old Pinky Kumari, said: “Why should we send her to school again? To let her die? We won’t let that happen. Look what the school did to her and others.”

Shashi Singh, the mukhiya of Jijauli panchayat, said: “Any mention of the school, or for that matter any school, is angering the villagers. But the good thing is there are still some people in the village who want their children to study. Their aversion to the midday meal is here to stay though.”

What rankles with the people more is the lack of headway in the arrest of Meena Devi or the sealing of the shop from where ingredients were bought. Many of them said she easily fled the village with her husband and also had time to lock up her house. Police, though, claim they were close to apprehending her.

Kundan Kumar, the sub-divisional police officer of Chhapra’s Marhaura area, said: “She will be caught very soon. There are concrete leads and we are at work. The details cannot be disclosed.”

Some said Devi was being made a scapegoat, but guardians asked how she managed to flout rules. “There is no doubt the children died because of Meena. But what made flout the rules? Nobody was monitoring her.”

Masrakh block education officer Rudra Narayan Ram said: “I joined as the block education officer in December and inspected the institution last month. I did not receive any complaints against the school earlier. The food served in the midday meal is checked only if complaints come in.”

Cong for CBI probe

Bihar Congress chief Ashok Choudhary today sought a CBI probe into the midday meal deaths and hinted at lack of hygiene being a factor behind the tragedy. He said the CBI should probe into violation of guidelines in implementation of the scheme.