News18 reported that the incident took place in Janta Inter College at Pachenda in the Mustafabad area. The rat was found in the dal cooked for students enrolled in the school between Class 6 and 8.
Nine students and one teacher who was required to taste-test the meal before its distribution complained of their health deteriorating after consuming the meal and they were rushed to the district hospital.
An NGO called Jan Kalyan Sanstha Committee based in Hapur (about 90 kilometres away from Muzaffarnagar) was reported to be the caterer of MDMs in the school. The organisation cooks its food in its Hapur location and transports the prepared meals to Muzaffarnagar.
The mishap was reported by the student who was in charge of serving meals for the day. It was just as the student was serving dal to the tenth student after having served it to the nine poisoned students, that he noticed that what he originally thought was khichdi in the dal was, in fact, a dad rat. He informed the school authorities immediately who stopped serving the contaminated food.
NDTV also reported that all of the children as well as the teacher have been discharged from the hospital after primary care. The media also reported that the District Magistrate (DM) of the area has ordered the police to file an FIR against the agency responsible for providing the mid-day meal to Janta Inter College. In addition, concerned officials have been rushed to the school to collect samples of the food and make inquiries regarding the incident.
Uttar Pradesh has witnessed multiple mid-day Meal scheme-related controversies this year. This incident comes less than a week after a video went viral showcasing how one litre of milk was diluted with a bucket of water so that the mixture could be used to feed 81 children as part of their mid-day meal in Sonbhadra, UP. In August, a government primary school in UP’s Mirzapur was found serving salt-roti to children in the name of mid-day meals. A week prior to this, the same kids were given salt-rice for their mid-day lunch.
On November 26, the HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank told the Lok Sabha that the most number of MDM-related complaints was reported from Uttar Pradesh (14 out of a total 52). Uttar Pradesh received the highest amount of funds to run the MDM program in its school, at about Rs. 11.2 billion.
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