At least 28 students of a civic school in west Delhi’s Naraina were hospitalised on Friday after they took ill shortly after having their mid-day meal.
The incident sparked a blame game between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which said it was a case of food poisoning, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which blamed it on an alleged gas leak.
Mayor Shelly Oberoi, who visited a few of the hospitalised children, said they fell sick owing to a gas leak from a train passing on the tracks near the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) school.
Locals outside the MCD school at Inderpuri. | Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
According to the Delhi police, a police control room had received a call from the Nigam Pratibha Vidyalaya, Inderpuri, which reported that some of its students had started vomiting. While 15 children were rushed to Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital, nine others were admitted to Acharya Bhikshu Hospital.
School officials told The Hindu that students of Classes IV and V fell sick around 11 a.m. and were rushed to hospital.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Ghanshyam Bansal and RML Hospital medical superintendent Dr. Ajay Shukla said four more children were admitted later with similar symptoms. However, an MCD official denied reports of more students taking ill.
The MCD school at Inderpuri wears a deserted look after 28 students were hospitalised after falling sick on Friday. | Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
Mr. Bansal said an initial assessment showed that a foul smell had filled a few classrooms, making the children, who had just had their mid-day meal, feel sick. “There is a railway track nearby. However, the source of the smell is yet to be ascertained,” he said.
The DCP said food samples were taken from the school and sent for forensic examination. “We will file a case based on the forensic report and other evidence,” he said.
‘Students stable’
Dr. Shukla said 19 students were admitted at the hospital and all of them were stable. “We are planning to discharge 15 students tonight and keep four others on observation till tomorrow morning. At this point, we cannot say what exactly caused the incident,” he said.
Another official at RML Hospital said all the children admitted there confirmed that they had consumed the mid-day meal. Two children were in need of oxygen support and later declared stable.
Delhi Mayor Shelly Oberoi interacts with the media outside RML Hospital on Friday. | Photo Credit: SUSHIL KUMAR VERMA
‘Find source of leak’
The Mayor has instructed officials to launch an investigation into the matter and find out the source of the alleged gas leak. Ms. Oberoi said the MCD stands with all the affected children and their parents. She added that a team of doctors from the MCD’s health department and officials from the education department have been tasked with monitoring the situation.
AAP MLA and MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak also visited the children admitted at RML Hospital.
Contaminated utensil: BJP
Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva, who visited the students at RML Hospital, said it was a case of food poisoning as “it appears that the utensil in which the mid-day meal was served was contaminated”. “ If it was a gas leak, the Mayor should explain why no one else, either in the school or in the neighbourhood, was affected.”
He also accused AAP of trying to “mislead” the families of the affected students. “They have also forced the parents and the school administration to blame the incident on a gas leak,” he said.
