50 students fall ill after consuming mid-day meal in Odisha
Jajpur, Nov 16: As many as 50 students of two government schools in Odisha's Jajpur were taken ill after consuming mid-day meal on Saturday, officials said.
The first incident occurred at Sibantpur Upper Primary School under Haridaspur panchayat of Dharmasala block, they said.
The meal was served at about 10 am in the school and about 40 students were vomiting, feeling nauseous and complaining of stomach pain after consuming it, an official said.
They were immediately rushed to the nearby Dharmasala community health centre (CHC) and treated.
According to a preliminary enquiry, a dead lizard was found in dalma (pulses cooked with vegetables), served to the students in the mid-day meal, Dharmasala block education officer Prafulla Kumar Behera said.
In another incident, 10 students of Bamphu Mangarajpur Nodal School were rushed to the same CHC with similar complaints, the official said.
Rotten eggs were allegedly served to the students in the mid-day meal, he said.
Behera said all the students were discharged from the health centre after preliminary treatments.
Samples of food, served to the students, have been collected and sent to a laboratory for tests, he said, adding that the matter is "under investigation and appropriate action would be taken if anyone is found guilty".
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
