NCP seeks suspension of mid-day meal scheme in Goa

PANAJI: The Goa unit of NCP today demanded suspension of mid-day meal scheme in the state, a day after nearly two dozen children were taken ill in a suspected case of food-poisoning at a school at Usgao.

Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar should suspend the scheme within a week, Nationalist Congress party (NCP) spokesperson Trajano D'Mello said.

"If government fails to suspend it, we will seek the Governor's intervention as the constitutional authority to stop the scheme," he said.

As many as 22 students of St Joseph High School at Usgao, 40 km from here, were taken ill yesterday after eating the meal served at the school.

About 80 students at a school in Canacona tehsil had suffered food poisoning a few days ago.

D'Mello said the scheme should not be resumed until hygienic kitchens were made available at schools and the students can be given glucose biscuits in the meantime.

He also claimed that barely half the students actually eat the food served at the school, and parents were increasingly asking the children to stay away from it.

Goa government has begun an inquiry into the Usgao incident.