28 schoolchildren in Delhi hospitalised after mid-day meal; Mayor blames gas leak, BJP alleges food poisoning

28 students of Naraina civic school in Delhi hospitalised after mid-day meal; BJP blames food poisoning, AAP blames gas leak; Mayor orders investigation; samples sent for forensic examination; 19 students stable, 15 to be discharged; BJP accuses AAP of misleading families.

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.

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.

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.