Parents vent grief, anger over India poison lunch
My children always liked eating at the school and I was happy that at least they were getting one square meal every day
GANDAMAN, India, July 18, 2013 (AFP) - The mother of three children who died after eating a poisoned lunch in an impoverished part of India told Thursday how she had only sent them to the school so they could get a free meal.
As the death toll from the tragedy at a primary school in Bihar state rose to 23, police stepped up their investigation, including the possibility the free lunches given to the children were deliberately poisoned.
The state government meanwhile revealed plans to pay compensation of nearly $4,000 to families who lost their loved ones but the announcement did little to assuage the sense of grief or anger among parents.
“My children always liked eating at the school and I was happy that at least they were getting one square meal every day but I never dreamt that it would end up killing them,” said Sanjudevi Mahato as she wept for the loss of three of her four children.
“My husband is bed-ridden. We have no food at home and it was only to ensure that my children got at least some food that I sent them to the school,” she told AFP at a hospital in the state capital Patna.
Mahato was speaking as her fourth child, an eightyear-old girl called Kajal, received treatment in hospital from the effects of the poison.
“She only survived because she could detect the pungent smell in the food and refused to eat.”
No one has yet been arrested over the deaths although police conducted raids on Wednesday night across the local district of Saran.
The tragedy has sparked panic elsewhere in Bihar, with reports from dozens of schools of children dumping their meals in bins or refusing even to touch them.