20 students fall ill after consuming mid-day meal in Bihar

April 17, 2012 20:44 IST

Around 20 students of a primary school in Bihar's Banka district Tuesday fell ill after consuming the mid-day meal, police said.

According to a police source, students fell ill soon after eating a mid-day meal at a state-run school at Visambharchak village in Banka.

"All the students have been admitted to a government hospital and their condition is stable," a district health official P Jha said.

Angry over the incident, local residents blocked

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roads and demanded action against the school authorities.

Parents told a visiting police team that students started vomiting and complained of stomachache after eating the meal, a police official said.

Widespread corruption has been reported in the mid-day meal scheme in Bihar, as government guidelines on food quality are ignored.

A few months ago, a lizard and a dead rat were found in the food cooked for a mid-day meal.

M I Khan in Patna