Villagers at the house of Gandaman Primary School principal Mina Kumari and husband Arjun Rai on Thursday. Picture by Rakesh K Singh

Patna/Chhapra, July 18: On the backfoot over the deaths of 23 children who were served a midday meal laced with insecticides, the government today accepted that proper implementation of the welfare delivery system was a huge challenge for a state that has been grappling with corruption and extreme backwardness for decades.

“The (education) department had received a report from the Union human resource development ministry a year ago on how to strengthen the midday meal system. Based on that, the then midday meal director Rahul Singh issued a directive listing the parameters to be adopted for the proper execution of the scheme,” principal secretary, education, Amarjeet Sinha told reporters in Patna.

The directive, issued on April 26, 2012, laid down instructions regarding the menu for the midday meal, use of Agmark-certified edible cooking oil and proper tasting of the cooked food by the school principal and cook before it is served to the children.

However, none of the directives were followed at the Gandaman Primary School in Saran district, some 90km northwest of Patna, on Tuesday.

“Effective implementation of the scheme remains a huge challenge,” Sinha acknowledged.

His admission brings to the fore the loopholes in the implementation of a scheme that is largest of its kind in the world and has drawn many hungry and impoverished children to school. As many as 70,260 schools in the state are part of the scheme that is funded by the Centre, but whose execution is the responsibility of the state.

Education department officials admitted that the biggest challenge for them was to provide good and hygienic food at schools. Of the 70,260 schools in the state where midday meals are offered, around 8,000 institutions don’t have their own building and 18,000 have no kitchen sheds. “In the wake of the Saran tragedy, the schools which don’t have their own buildings will be shifted to nearby institutions that have buildings. Kitchen sheds will be constructed in the remaining schools.”

The administration continued to falter, with the search for principal Mina Kumari and her grocer-husband Arjun Rai drawing a blank, some 60 hours after the tragedy struck on Tuesday. Mina Kumari has been accused of cronyism as she ensured that the food materials were sourced only from the grocery shop owned by her husband, though there are a couple of other stores in the twin hamlets of Dharamsati and Gandaman.

Midday meal director R. Laxmanan said the police were busy “maintaining law and order” because of the protests by the people. “Now, the police will soon arrest Rai’s family members and seal the shop from where the edible oil was supplied,” he said.

Though the forensic lab reports are still awaited, clinical examination of the children admitted at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) has pointed to the presence of organophosphorus, an insecticide, in the food. Local residents have alleged that the mustard oil used to cook the food was kept in a container containing the insecticide.

Enraged by the lack of administrative action, the villagers of Dharamsati and Gandaman ransacked Rai’s shop today and threw out all items stored there. They even found two bags of fertilisers kept near the food items.

At PMCH, 24 children and cook Manju Devi are still undergoing treatment.

News of a 23rd death in the tragedy was brought to light during the visit of Union HRD ministry official Amarjeet Singh to the Gandaman school today. “Villagers informed him that one Shiva Sah (7), son of Raju Sah, had died the same day after eating the meal. But Raju quietly buried his son without informing the local administration,” a Saran collectorate official said.

Singh, the additional secretary in the central HRD ministry, had a meeting with education department officials. The state is now planning an overhaul of the system.

Under the midday meal scheme, on an average around 1.60 crore children up to class VIII studying in government schools are provided free lunch. As per the new plan, the 12-member school management committee, which looks after the midday meal, including purchase of edible oil and vegetables, will be expanded to a 19-member panel.

The new committee will have health workers from organisations such as Asha as additional members.

Principal secretary Sinha, who accepted that many lives could have been saved if immediate medical aid was provided to the children, said: “Under the new plan, medical aid, including proper training to teachers and the cook, will be provided so that immediate action can be taken.”

The anger among the people over the deaths continued to spill over to the streets. The vehicle of social welfare minister Parveen Amanullah was stopped midway near Rai Birendra College, 5km north of Hajipur. Stones were pelted at the vehicle, damaging its rear windscreen.