Over 100 students fell ill in a government middle school in the district after eating free
noon meal in which a dead lizard was allegedly found, prompting protests by parents, police said today.
The children of the school in Ayyampalayam, 30 km from here, were taking the noon meal yesterday when one of them found a dead lizard and complained to the authorities. Soon several students started vomiting.
School authorities rushed the students in ambulances and other vehicles to nearby Kasipalayam Primary Health Centre where four doctors provided them treatment. The students numbering around 130 were discharged around 9 pm last night.
On hearing about the incident, parents of the students rushed to the Primary Health Centre and staged a "road roko" demanding the immediate suspension of the noon meal centre caretaker for her alleged negligence.
Local Tahsildar and noon meal officials rushed and conveyed that the caretaker had been suspended, following which the villagers dispersed.
