Investigation is in full swing in Noida's Step by Step school food poisoning case. The investigation teams have visited hospitals and met parents of affected students.
Step by Step school
The district magistrate of Gautam Budh Nagar, BN Singh has formed several teams to investigate the issue of food poisoning at Step by Step school, Sector 132 Noida.
These teams visited the different private hospitals where the affected students were admitted after falling ill and met the concerned parents in order to record their statements on Friday. Meanwhile, the food and supply department has taken samples of the edible items used in the food and have sent them for inspection.
Earlier on Thursday, a large number of students of Step by Step school in sector 132, Noida are suspected to have fallen victim to food poisoning after having lunch in the school on Thursday. The students fell sick soon as they ate the food and suffered from stomach ache and vomiting.
According to the police, they along with the food and health department of the district visited around seven private hospitals to find out the exact number of children who had fallen sick.
“We visited Appolo hospital where five children were admitted and released on Friday, nine kids were admitted in Max hospital out of which two are still hospitalised. Further, nearly 18 children were rushed to Jaypee hospital out of which seventeen have been released and one is undergoing treatment. All the students are fine now and those who are still admitted in hospitals are doing better and will be released soon,” said Sanjaya Srivastava, food safety officer of Gautam Budh Nagar. Apart from these, the team visited four other hospitals to know the exact number of ill students and record their families’ statements.
The food department has collected the samples of the paratha and oil used for breakfast and the reports are expected to be out in a week.
However, it’s not the first time that the school has garnered headlines due to wrong reasons. In 2014, UP food and safety department had sent a sample of juice (Sherbat) from Step By Step’s canteen to be tested in Lucknow. The sample had failed to pass the quality tests and the District Department had imposed a penalty of Rs six lakh and fifty thousand on the school management and owner of the canteen.
District magistrate BN Singh, told City Spidey that an FIR has been lodged against the school management by the district administration under sections 328 (Causing hurt by means of poison), 341(Punishment for wrongful restraint) and 332 (Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty).
"The administration has asked the school to provide a list of the ill students it will be submitted on Monday,” Singh said.
“Police and food department are also investigating the matter and after completion of the investigation, we will provide more details regarding the matter”, Singh further added.
“A parent whose son had fallen sick after consuming the food has submitted a complaint against the school and we have merged his FIR with the one submitted by the district administration on Thursday. Further, it has been found that more than 100 kids had fallen victim to the stale food. We are trying to meet the families of the affected students to record their statements and further investigate the case,” said Vedpal Singh Pundir, Station House Officer of Expressway police station.
