A fatal accident occurred while cooking mid-day meal at Shantinagar Vivekananda Nagar GSFP Primary School in Pandua, Hooghly district. Two mid-day meal workers were seriously injured when a pressure cooker exploded on Tuesday morning. The injured have been identified as Mili Dutta and Aarti Lohar. They are currently undergoing treatment at Pandua Rural Hospital.

There are about 200 students in this school. On Tuesday, the mid-day meal menu for them included dal and ghugni. According to school sources, dal was boiled first in the morning. Then peas were boiled in the pressure cooker for ghugni. At this time, the pressure cooker suddenly burst with a loud noise and its lid fell off. Boiling dal and hot water spilled out and hit the eyes and faces of the two workers in front. Mili Dutta and Aarti Lohar were seriously injured.

Hearing the screams of the injured, the school teachers and residents of the surrounding area rushed to the spot. The two workers were quickly rescued and taken to Pandua Rural Hospital, where they are being given first aid.

School principal Shampa Debnath Chatterjee said, “One of the injured has stitches on his forehead. The gas oven used during the accident was also damaged. However, the biggest relief is that no student was injured in the incident.” A teacher in charge said that the accident may have occurred due to the pressure cooker’s lid not being properly attached or some other mechanical fault.

After the incident, the school authorities and the local administration have started an investigation. The quality of the pressure cooker and whether safety rules were followed during cooking are being investigated. Residents of the area have expressed concern over the incident and demanded more security in the mid-day meal project at the school.

After the incident, anxiety spread in the school. Parents wanted to know what steps would be taken to avoid such accidents in the future. Teachers said that they will learn from this incident and strengthen safety measures in the kitchen.

The accident raises important questions about the quality of equipment used in the mid-day meal project and the training of staff. The school family and the local community wished the two injured staff a speedy recovery.