79 fall ill after eating mid-day meal in Rajasthan

At least 79 children in Rajasthan's Bhilwara district fell ill Tuesday after eating the mid-day meal, when they saw a dead lizard in the pot, officials said. All are now out of danger.

According to police, the incident occurred at the Upper Primary Government School in Banera town in Bhilwara, some 250 km from Jaipur.

"After having the mid-day meal, several students, after seeing a dead lizard in the pot in which the meal was cooked, started complaining of nausea and stomach pain. It created a panic situation," said an education department official.

"The students were rushed to various hospitals in the area from where they were discharged after primary treatment," said Bhilwara's chief medical and health officer (CMHO) R.C. Samaria.

Samaria added that the condition of all the children who consumed the meal was out of danger.

Bhilwara District Collector Onkar Singh told IANS that the school's headmaster and the physical trainer, who was also mid-day meal in-charge, have been suspended following the incident, while three men involved in cooking the meal have been sacked.