Patna, July 17: Twelve more children who ate mid-day meal at their school in Bihar's Saran district died overnight, pushing up the toll to 23.
Ten more children are battling for their lives, officials said, as the tragedy triggered protests.
Amarjeet Singh, principal secretary, education, said he suspected the deaths occurred by organo phosphorous poisoning caused by traces of insecticides.
While 16 children, aged below 10 years and studying in Class I to V, had died in Chhapra itself, four others were declared dead on arrival at Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH) late last night. Two died at the hospital this morning, official and PMCH sources said.
District Magistrate Abhijit Sinha said 10 children died and more than 60 fell ill after eating the mid-day meal at Dharamsati primary school in Masrakh in Saran district, about 100 km from here.
Among the dead were two children of a woman cook of the midday meal project Panno Devi. Three children of another woman cook Manju Devi are under treatment at PMCH along with her.
Twenty five others are under medical supervision in PMCH, Superintendent of PMCH Amarkant Jha Azad said.
The Superintendent said the ailing children were admitted to ICU of paediatric department and senior doctors were attending to them round-the-clock.
"Ten children are still critical," a hospital official said.
The BJP, RJD, and CPI-ML organised chhapra bandh today to protest the deaths of schoolchildren. People came out on the roads to stage spontaneous protests.
Hundreds of people have been protesting in Saran since late Tuesday night, demanding strict action against government officials responsible for the tragedy.
Twenty dead children were buried near the school.
A case has been registered against the school's headmistress Meena Devi and other teachers.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced a compensation of Rs.2 lakh to the kin of each of the dead school children.
The deaths triggered a political row with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday calling Nitish Kumar "insensitive".
"The chief minister of Bihar instead of showing promptness in evacuating the children to a better medical facility has announced a ex-gratia amount of Rs.2 lakh for the children who died after having a mid-day meal. This showcases the insensitivity and the callous attitude," said BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy in Delhi.
In Bihar, widespread corruption is reported in the mid-day meal scheme and government guidelines on food quality are ignored.
In the past, dead lizards, frogs, insects and a rat were found in food cooked for the mid-day meal at schools, angering students and parents.
