Horror as shown in films or depicted in books since time immemorial has always been associated or programmed to strike terror in viewers at MID-NIGHT.
People in Chhapra, a city in the saran district of Bihar were traumatized and froze with fear and helplessness ironically not at the dreaded mid-night but at a very earthly mid-day hour which spelt an agonizing death to 22 innocent kids. The kids had just finished their mid-day meal satisfying their hunger pangs amidst laughter, chattering and discussing their plans for the day when they started having acute stomach pains along with a severe bout of vomiting spells. The school administration as usual had no clue to this and some of the kids were rushed o a nearby medical centre which locals claim had no facilities to handle this crisis. The nearest hospital was a good 50kms away and the kids were unceremoniously shoved into ‘slower than snail ‘public transport and the crucial time to give a life-saving antidote was lost and the lives of the kids too perished along with it.
The state administration instead of minimizing or mitigating the affected people worked over time in the media to defend itself in face of the opposition party’s onslaught against it. The opposition parties sensing the opportunity got enough ammunition to provoke arsonists and anti social elements who started burning and pelting stones at vehicles. This unruly and pathetic behavior of these crooks resulted in roads being blocked and denial of emergency first aid to many of the afflicted kids who by then were writhing in agony.
It is preposterous to state that this deed was pre-planned to get at the state govt. administration with the 2014 elections round the corner. We all know that the quality of the food served at mid may meals in many states are of inferior quality and barely edible. Poor parents are forced to send their wards to such schools in the sincere hope that their kids can have the LUXURY of eating at least one square meal a day. It was heart rending to quote one affected parent who said’’- it would have been better that my son to be a living illiterate than being a dead literate ’’.
The head master of the school is on the run and the law will catch up with him/her sooner or later. Precious lives have been lost because of the callous attitude on part of both, the school and the govt. authorities in charge of providing the ration rather it’s a cold blooded homicide. The affected families have been scarred forever and perhaps never come out of this unanticipated traumatic sludge hitting them.
Compensating deaths in event of a tragedy has become a mere ritual in India. The Chief minister quickly sanctioned a couple of lacs as a stand by measure to the aggrieved family. This money is gouged out of the tax payers kitty which is needed for developmental projects in the country. One of the Prime reasons for remaining in the ‘’developing country ‘’ mode is the lack of finance needed to implement capital intensive projects.
Eventually time will heal and erase these dreaded memories. Remedies and measures to ward off such avoidable tragedies in the future must be put in place.
What has gone will never come back but the authorities all over the country can certainly take this tragedy as a wake- up call and infuse confidence building measures amongst both the students and their parents by striving to provide healthy and carefully prepared wholesome nutritious packed food along with the education to the under-privileged and bridge the ever widening chasm existing between the haves and the have-nots.
