Over 100 students taken ill of food-poisoning

GUWAHATI - More than 100 primary school students were Monday taken ill, 15 of them seriously, with suspected food poisoning and were admitted to local hospitals in an Assam district.

The students complained of giddiness and started vomiting after they ate their mid-day meal of rice and dal, served as part of the government’s Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA), at a primary school at the Borboruah tea garden in Dibrugarh disrict in eastern Assam.

“So far 118 students were admitted to various local hospitals,” a school teacher said.

There are fears that the food prepared in the school was contaminated with some pesticides that were being sprayed by tea garden workers close to the school kitchen.

“We strongly suspect there was some contamination and it could be possible that pesticides sprayed in the garden could have got into the kitchen,” a doctor said.

The condition of at least 15 of them is serious, doctors said, adding most of the other students are improving.