Chappra: Even as the forensic
report on Saturday revealed that the cooking oil laced with pesticide
was used to prepare the mid day meal which claimed 23 lives in a school
in Chhapra, the principal of school and her grocer husband are still
absconding. Report points to principal's negligence because it was her
duty to ensure that the food was tasted by her and the cook before
serving to the children.
Bihar Police spokesperson Ravindra Kumar shared details of the
report at a press conference on Saturday. He said the concentration of
pesticide monocrotophos that was found in the cooking oil used to
prepare the meal for the school children was five times more than what
was found in a sample of the same oil collected from the market.
Kumar said the forensic evidence collected from the school was
analysed at Forensic Science Laboratory in Patna. He said it was a
matter of investigation that how and from where this poisonous substance
got mixed in the oil. "I will not go into the details as FSL report
will help the ongoing investigation into the mid day meal tragedy,"
Kumar said.
The principal and her husband, from
whose shop she had purchased the cooking oil suspected to be laced with
insecticide, have fled after the incident. Their house in Dharmasati
Gandaman village in Mashrakh block, about 50 km from Chhapra, is also
locked.
Meanwhile, the BJP on Saturday hit out at Bihar Chief Minister
Nitish Kumar for his government's alleged failure to use Rs 463 crore of
central funds meant for mid day meal scheme and asked him to clarify
why this money was not used to provide better and clean food to
students.
BJP, whose 17-year partnership with JD(U) broke last month, also
charged Kumar has not been seen in public since the death of 22 children
after consuming mid-day meals in Chappra district of Bihar. The party
said he had not bothered to visit the families of the kids who died.
"This report that Bihar government had returned Rs 463 crore is
not surprising. While strict action should be taken against those guilty
of serving poisonous food to kids, it should also be probed why these
funds were not used. Who will take the blame for failure to use the
funds?" BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said.
He maintained that while responsibility has to be fixed on those
guilty of callousness, somebody has to take the political responsibility
for the incident.
"Nitish Kumar has not visited those kids who are recovering in
hospital. There are reports that the chief minister is unwell. We are
concerned about the Chief Minister's health. After all, he is only a
political rival and not an enemy," Hussain said.
BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said the mid-day meal scheme
in Bihar was in dire straits and the funds which were returned to the
Centre could have been used for improving the quality and delivery of
the food.
"Instead of improving the scheme, the Nitish Kumar government returned the funds," she added.
