Bihar mid-day meal death toll rises to 22

With the death of two more children, the toll due to consumption of spurious midday meal at a government primary school in Bihar's Saran district rose to 22 on Wednesday. While 16 children, aged below 10 years and studying in Class I to V, had died in Chhapra itself, four others were declared dead on arrival at Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) late on Tuesday night. Two died at the hospital on Wednesday morning, official and PMCH sources said. Among the dead were two children of a woman cook of the midday meal project Panno Devi. Three children of another woman cook Manju Devi are under treatment at PMCH along with her. Twenty five others are under medical supervision in PMCH, Superintendent of PMCH Amarkant Jha Azad said. The Superintendent said the ailing children were admitted to ICU of paediatric department and senior doctors were attending to them round-the-clock. The tragedy took place at the government primary school in Dahrmasati Gandawan village at Mashrakh block, about 25 km from Chhapra and 60 km from state capital on Tuesday.