Mid day meal tragedy: Death toll reaches to 19

Patna: Death toll of children, who fell ill after having mid-day meal at a state-run primary school in Bihar’s Saran district, rose to 19 on Wednesday. 
Till late Tuesday night, District Magistrate Abhijit Sinha said that 10 children died after consuming the mid-day meal at Dharamsati primary school in Masrakh in Saran. But later nine more children died and over 60 children fell ill, he added.
Nitish Kumar expressed shock over the incident and announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the kin of each of the dead school children.
In Bihar, widespread corruption is reported in the mid-day meal scheme and government guidelines on food quality are ignored. In past, dead lizards, frogs, insects and a rat were found in the food cooked for the mid-day meal, angering students and parents.