New Delhi: Students of a government school in Madhya Pradesh’s Maihar district were allegedly served their special Republic Day midday meal on torn notebook pages and scraps of paper, triggering public outrage and prompting the district administration to initiate disciplinary action against senior school officials.

According to a report by Indian Express, the incident occurred at the Government High School in Bhatigwan village. A video that surfaced on social media shows students sitting on the floor and being served puri and halwa on ink-stained pages torn from old books.

Maihar District Collector Rani Batad said the administration had taken cognisance of the matter. “Action has been initiated against the concerned officials, and a proposal has been sent to suspend the principal of the school,” she was quoted as saying.

Rajesh Singh, Public Relations Officer for Satna and Maihar, said disciplinary steps were taken after a detailed inquiry. He said the investigation report, submitted by District Project Coordinator Vishnu Tripathi, led to a proposal being forwarded to the Rewa divisional commissioner seeking suspension of the in-charge principal of Government High School, Bhatigwan, Sunil Kumar Tripathi.

Singh added that the salary of a contract employee, Block Resource Coordinator Pradeep Singh, had been deducted for one month as part of the action taken.

District Project Coordinator Vishnu Tripathi said the arrangements made for the Republic Day celebrations at the school violated basic norms and that responsibility lay with the school administration. “The preliminary inquiry clearly establishes that the principal was responsible for ensuring proper arrangements for the midday meal. Such negligence on a national occasion like Republic Day is unacceptable,” he said, adding that a report recommending strict action had been submitted to the district administration.

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Shivamogga: A leopard was killed after being hit by a motorcycle near Mandagadde in Thirthahalli taluk of Shivamogga district.

According to reports, the biker was travelling from Shivamogga towards Thirthahalli when the leopard suddenly came onto the road from a nearby forest area near Mandagadde. The rider is said to have lost control of the bike and crashed into the animal.

The leopard suffered severe injuries in the impact and died on the spot. The biker also fell onto the road along with the motorcycle and sustained serious injuries. He was shifted to a hospital in Shivamogga for further treatment.

After receiving information about the incident, forest department officials, including Gajanur RFO Vinay Kumar, visited the spot and conducted an inspection.