Over 150 girls fall ill in Odisha

Bhubaneswar, Sep. 15 (IANS): Over 150 tribal girl students of a government residential school fell ill on Friday with symptoms of food poisoning in Odisha’s Malkangiri district, officials said. The students of Badapada Kanyashram in Chitrakonda block complained of nausea, vomiting, loose motion and stomach pain after consuming flattened rice at breakfast, said Ramkrishna Gond, Project Administrator of the Integrated Tribal Development Agency. The students were admitted to Chitrakonda hospital for treatment. Malkangiri District Collector K. Sudarshan Chakravarthy visited the hospital and said an inquiry would be conducted to know the reason for the incident and those responsible for it. School authorities said the flattened rice was brought to the school in a vehicle that was also carrying phenyl. The food item may have got mixed with phenyl, which led to deterioration in the health of the girl students, officials said. Around 100 students from four schools in Lanjigarh block of Kalahandi district were taken ill after taking the midday meal on Thursday.