Dead snake found in mid-day meal packet, claim parents; probe launched
Sangli, Jul 5: A tiny dead snake was allegedly found in a packet distributed under the mid-day meal scheme meant for children aged between six months and three years at an 'Anganwadi' or a government-run nursery school in western Maharashtra's Sangli district, prompting the authorities to launch a probe.
The incident was reported by the parents of a child in Palus on Monday, said Anandi Bhosale, Vice-President of the State Anganwadi Workers' Union.
Calling it a "serious" incident, Congress leader and Palus-Kadegaon MLA Vishwajeet Kadam raised the issue in the state legislative assembly in the ongoing monsoon session. He demanded a detailed probe into the incident and action against those responsible for it.
District officials said the child's parents disposed of the dead snake after photographing it and sent the image to the local anganwadi sevika (worker). But despite this, the food sample from the packet has been collected and sent to a laboratory for testing, they said.
"Children in the age group of six months to three years receive packets of mid-day meal, a premix of dal khichadi, at anganwadis. These packets are distributed to families once they arrive at the anganwadi. On Monday, meal packets were distributed by anganwadi workers in Palus. The parents of one child claimed that a tiny dead snake was found in the packet they received," Bhosale said on Wednesday.
The parents took a photo of the snake and sent it to the anganwadi sevika, she said.
"But by the time the sevika forwarded the photo to our district sevika group, the parents had already disposed of the suspected dead snake," she said.
Bhosale added that the issue was raised during a meeting held on July 2, and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Sangli Zilla Parishad, Sandip Yadav, who heads the Women and Child Welfare and Anganwadi section, was informed.
She said the godown where the meal packets are stored was reportedly sealed following the incident.
Bhosale also claimed that there have been complaints about the contractor responsible for supplying the premixed meal packets.
When contacted, Yadav told PTI that during the investigation, officials learned that the parents had discarded the alleged dead object found in the packet.
"The packets are directly distributed by the contractor to the anganwadis and from there, they are given to the beneficiaries within two to three days...In this case, neither the anganwadi sevika nor any other district administration official saw the object; only the parents claimed to have seen it," he said.
"So, based on the photo they clicked and the food samples from the packet, the investigation will proceed," he added.
The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) has collected samples of the food items from the packet for laboratory testing, Yadav confirmed.
MLA Kadam said on X, "A dead baby snake was found in the mid-day meal provided to pregnant women and children in the age group of six months to three years. This is a serious issue. The government should understand that the lives of pregnant women and children are at risk. Harsh punishment should be taken against the guilty."
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
