Jamshedpur, Aug. 4: At least 100 students of a state high school in Telco area of the steel city were rushed to hospital and 25 of them had to be put on drip this afternoon after a lizard was found in their midday khichdi, a fairly common and disturbing occurrence at government cradles in Jharkhand.

Iskcon Food Relief Foundation, whose centralised kitchen at Ramdas Bhatta rustles up and delivers the meal to Utkramit Uchcha Vidyalaya, Laxminagar, and 69 other schools in two districts, has denied negligence on its part and blamed the practice of keeping food uncovered on campus for the reptilian ordeal. District education officials, on the other hand, have labelled the incident a dangerous prank without any word on a possible probe.

The midday meal of khichdi, which arrived from the centralised kitchen around 11am, was served to 500-odd students of the school, all aged between six and 14 years, around 1.30am.

A Class VII girl, Payal Kumari, discovered the dead lizard on her plate and began vomiting. Her friends too felt nauseated at the sight and news reached teachers who stopped serving the meal. But by then, several children had begun complaining of cramps. Some even started throwing up.

Headmistress Kamala Kumari didn't risk delay and asked teachers to rush all the sick students to MGM Medical College and Hospital in Sakchi. "Parents were informed and asked to come to hospital directly. There was a lot of panic," the school head said.

Doctors at MGM examined around 100 students and admitted 25 who needed to be administered saline and intravenous medicines. Others were discharged after anti-spasm shots or anti-nausea pills. All were declared out of danger, but the panic was palpable.

"We were savouring the khichdi when Payal, who was sitting right next to me, found the lizard on her plate. She vomited and I felt an acute pain in the stomach. A couple of minutes later, I too vomited. I feel a little better now," said Preeti Kumari, also a seventh grader.

Class V student Nisha Kumari stressed her insides were still churning. "The khichdi tasted nice, but then a senior saw the lizard. I kept vomiting after that, but the pain in my stomach is still there," the little girl said.

Doctors reassured parents that there was nothing to worry. "Home lizards are not poisonous, but children will panic at the sight of one on their plate," Dr Sanjay Kumar told The Telegraph.

Herpetologists say the wall lizard or gecko, found in most homes, is not poisonous at all. It only checks insect population. The only poisonous lizard in the world is the heloderma, also called the gila monster or beaded lizard. It is found in large numbers near the Gila river in south-western US.

Sanjay Tiku, the in-charge of the centralised Iskcon kitchen that supplies midday meal to 70 schools in East Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan, accused the Laxminagar school of improper food handling. "I am cent per cent sure the incident happened because of unmanned food on campus. There is no chance of lizards being cooked at our kitchen," he said.

Sources at the district education office corroborated the Iskcon foundation's hygienic cooking claims.

"The centralised kitchen steams rice/dal/ khichdi in large, clean containers. Cooked food reaches smaller containers through sanitised ducts. These containers are delivered to schools in vehicles specially fitted with racks to prevent spill. On campuses, they are again transferred to school containers," an insider said.

Another source added that the centralised kitchen began cooking meals at night, packaging was done from dawn and food delivered between 10am and 11am, at least an hour before midday.

District superintendent of education Indra Bhushan Singh, who visited the schoolchildren at hospital, didn't seem to doubt the quality of food from the Iskcon foundation. "It looks like somebody's mischief. A lizard would not be in one piece if it were steamed with tonnes of khichdi. It seems like a prank. We will have to look into the matter. For now, we will pray that the children recover soon," Singh said.