Probe ordered into Food poisoning of Ganesh Puja prasad

Baripada, Aug 31 (UNI) The Mayurbhanj district administration has appointed a probe committee to find out the persons responsible for the ''food poisoning'' of 895 people in five villages during the Ganesh puja.

The Circle Inspector of Schools and the District Inspector of Schools have been asked to submit their reports immediately indicating their findings on the matter.

The Baripada Town police station has registered two cases - one against the Secretary of the school managing committee, Lalmohan Singh and another against Headmistress of the school Nirupama Dash, official sources said.

The police had also sealed the three shops at Baripada which supplied the prasad ingredients like chura and jaggery to the school for preparation of the prasad.

At least 895 people in nine villages of Shyamakhunta block of Mayurbhanj district suffered from acute diarrhoea resulting from ''food poisoning'' after consuming prasad served at a Ganesh Puja celebration in Rangamatia Nodal ME School.

Additional District Medical Officer(ADMO) Dr Niranjan Rout attributed the food poisoning to consumption of ''prasad'' distributed among the children of the school.

He said the ingredients of the prasad like ''Chuda'', jaggery, Bundia, red gram and green gram mashed together were perhaps responsible for the spread of the infection.

The affected patients reflected symptoms like severe pain in the abdomen, dehydration, fever, vomiting and diarrhoea.

Dr Rout said although the infection originated from the Ganesh Puja prasad, it spread to the neighbouring nine villages through other agents like the canal water that the villagers used for various purposes.

The villagers even used to defecate on the canal banks and washed their clothes in the canal water thus enabling the spread of the infection to the adjoining villages.

Meanwhile, Orissa Director of Health Services Usha Patnaik and Joint Director Health Services Madan Mohan Debata who visited the affected villages yesterday described the situation under ''control'' and ruled out possibility of further spread of the disease.

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