Bihar mid-day meal tragedy: 22 survivors return home after 3 weeks in hospital

Patna: 22 children, who survived the pesticide-laced mid-day meal at their school in Bihar's Chhapra district three weeks ago, were discharged today from a Patna hospital. They returned to their grateful parents but refused to return to their old school at the Gandaman village.

"We will now go home to play and study," says a cheerful survivor of the horrific tragedy in which children were literally served death on their plates. They look forward to life now after their battle with death.

Today, they have recovered physically, but for them, the nightmare of July 16 is hard to forget. They lost 23 of their friends on that day; their school, which would once echo with laughter, has now turned into a graveyard.

A father undergoes a moment of conflict. Doctors managed to save his son, but his daughter's life was lost. "The loss of my 10-year-old daughter Mamta has shattered me," Upendra Kumar says, "It was due to the carelessness of the local doctor."

As these children returned home, state officials tried to reassure parents, even while shifting the blame. Education minister P K Shahi says, "The anti-social elements did it. It's true that children are consuming less mid-day meal these days but their attendance has not dropped."

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Last month, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had not directly pinned the disaster on a political conspiracy, as some of his ministers have, but he had backed the theory that the poisoning appeared deliberate.

As long as the leaders continue to evade the tragedy, faith of the children in their mid-day meals will be hard to restore in Bihar.

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