Surprise checks on noon meal centres

Chennai, July 19: A day after over 100 girls fell sick after eating contaminated eggs as mid day meal in a school at Neyveli, Tamil Nadu government today conducted surprise checks at nutritious meal centres in Chennai and Tiruvallore, suspending three employees who did not report for duty on time.

Social Welfare Minister B Valarmathi held checks at a Centre in the nearby Tiruvallore district where she found out that the anganwadi was not open on time and that its staff were also not present.

She issued directions to the District Collector to suspend the nutritious meal organiser, cook and an assistant, a state government release here said.

Valarmathi also made a surprise check at a government school at Muthialpettai here and checked the quality of the food and held enquiries with the children who ate it.

The Minister sought an explanation on the availability of lesser eggs against the number of beneficiaries and issued a "stern warning" not to repeat such mistakes, it added.

On Thursday, over 100 students of NLC Girls' High School had fallen sick after eating food under the midday meal scheme. Contaminated eggs were believed to have been the cause.

However, they were out of danger following immediate medical treatment.

PTI