140 Hospitalised after Lizard found in mid-day meals in two separate districts in Karnataka

Bengaluru: In two separate incidents in Karnataka, at least 140 students were on Thursday hospitalised following suspicion of food poisoning in mid-day meals. In both schools, students reported to having seen a lizard in the food they were served. What is strange, however, is that the two incidents were reported from two different districts of the state - Bagalkote and Ballary. In Chikkamagi government higher primary school in Hunagunda taluk in Bagalkote district, one student spotted a lizard in the food that he was served. A few other students are said to have started eating by the time he had alerted his teachers. Those students who had already eaten were made to throw up the food immediately. A hundred and five students from the school were then taken to the hospital for observation. "All of them are out of danger. As a precautionary measure they were all brought to the hospital. Out of them, 101 were discharged. The other four would be discharged by Friday," Ananth Desai, DHO, Bagalkote, told CNN-News18. Following the incident, three cooks at the school have been dismissed. "Until Monday, meals won't be provided at the school. The students will now have that fear. We will speak to the students and parents, take them into confidence and then start providing meals," said MR Kamakshi, DDPI, Bagalkote. In Agaluru, government primary school in Siruguppa taluk in Bellary district, at least 40 students were taken to the hospital after the mid-day meal was suspected to be poisoned. "There has been allergic reaction in kids after they had the mid-day meal in school. There was lizard in it is what they have said. Some of them had vomited. They could have diarrhoea too. But they are all safe. They have been given intravenous fluids," Arun Rangarajan, SP, Ballary, said. The students were taken to a primary health centre and 19 of them were later taken to a government hospital. "One hundred and fifty nine students were present in the school at the time. Forty students who had eaten the meal were hospitalised. All of them are safe," said A Shridhar, DDPI, Bellary. Source: News 18