Two children die,41 sick after eating

Two children died of food poisoning and many others were taken ill on Saturday after they allegedly consumed contaminated sweets distributed in a primary school as part of the mid-day meal scheme in Peindabaad village of Kannauj.

Two children died of food poisoning and many others were taken ill on Saturday after they allegedly consumed contaminated sweets distributed in a primary school as part of the mid-day meal scheme in Peindabaad village of Kannauj.

Forty-one patients have been admitted in the Kannauj district hospital,and four in the temporary emergency ward set up in the village school building. The district medical authorities have provided medicines to 400-odd villagers and according to them,the villagers are out of danger.

The contract for providing mid-day meal at the primary school was given to NGO Rani Devi Sanstha. The NGO has been distributing mid-day meal for the last 18 months and we will soon question them over the issue, said District Magistrate,Kannauj,V Raju.

Panic broke out in Peindabaad after Aakash (5) and Shubham (4) died of food poisoning on Saturday. Akashs father Rameshwar Kumar said: On the occasion of Independence Day,laddoos were distributed in the Primary School. Aakash and other students started vomiting sometime after they consumed these laddoos. Many of these students also brought home some laddoos. When their relatives ate these,they too were taken ill,he added.

Soon their condition became serious,and they were rushed to the district hospital. Chief Medical Officer (CMO),Kannauj,Dr Ramesh Chandra Agarwal,did not rule out the possibility of stale sweets causing the food poisoning,but added that villagers had prepared charnamrit and panijiri for the Janmasthami on August 14.

All the patients admitted in the hospital are out of danger,he said.

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