TEAM HERALD
BORIM: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may have given a clean chit to the two Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in connection with a midday meal scare in Usgao-Ponda, but the Ponda Police is yet to drop charges against the two SHGs.
This is because the Police claims it has not received the FDA report on the midday meal scare, even though four days have passed since the FDA had revealed its findings to the media.
It may be recalled that 23 students of St Joseph High School at Usgao-Ponda had fallen ill after eating their meals last Friday. FDA inspectors had collected samples of the pulao and bhaji-pao served at the midday meals for tests. On July 24, the FDA had ruled out contamination in the midday meals.
When asked to justify the delay in dropping the charges against the SHGs, PI C L Patil said: “We still haven’t received the copy of the FDA report. No sooner we receive it, we will decide on the matter.”
When contacted, FDA chief Dr Salim Veljee admitted that a copy of report was to be dispatched to the Police on Friday.
With the FDA certifying that the meals were safe for consumption, police will now need to identify those factors that had led 23 students of Std V and VI to fall ill.
