Saran school to be tagged with nearby middle school

CHHAPRA/PATNA: The primary school in Bihar that witnessed the death of 23 children due to consumption of poisonous midday meal will cease to function from present location and will be tagged with nearby middle school having infrastructure for cooking hygienic food.

"The Dharmasati Gandaman primary school will not function at the present location at a community hall building and will be tagged with Gandaman middle school which is around 200 metres away, Saran District Magistrate Abhijit Sinha told PTI.

The primary school was earlier part of the middle school and would again go back to its old location, the DM said.

The tagging is part of the state government's decision to attach thousands of new schools across the state which does not have roof or proper kitchen facility for cooking healthy midday meal.

The school has been shut since the midday meal tragedy that took place on last Tuesday.

Meanwhile, no clue of the absconding principal of the institution and her husband has been found.

"The police is conducting raids in search of the fleeing duo," Superintendent of Police Sujeet Kumar said.

The SP said if needed, police would seek order for property attachment of the principal.

Meanwhile, condition of 24 children and the woman cook Manju Devi is stable at Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH).

"All the children are showing considerable improvement but they are still in the hospital for observation and might be released by Monday," PMCH Superintendent Amarkant Jha Amar told PTI.

Amar said the woman cook, admitted at PMCH along with those children, is in complete shock and the hospital is giving her counselling. The cook's three children, two sons and a daughter, are also in PMCH.

The much-awaited FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) report that would confirm the quantity of poison in the food is expected later today.