As ‘mystery illness’ claims another life in J&K village, authorities seal water body, deploy security to stop its usage

The 17 people who died of the illness are all from three families at Baddal village in Rajouri district. Experts have not yet been able to identify the illness.

An inter-ministerial team, constituted by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, reached Rajouri on Sunday to further investigate the matter. They held a meeting with senior officials from the district administration, police, and doctors.

In the order to seal a spring in the village, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Kotranka sub-division) Dil Mir also directed round-the-clock deployment of two-three security personnel at the water source.

“Samples of water taken from the spring (bawli)…have tested positive for some pesticides or insecticides. The said ‘bawli’ has been blocked by PHE (the Public Health Engineering Department), Jal Shakti division, Rajouri, and sealed by the magistrate concerned,” Mir said in the order.

“There is an apprehension that the tribal population of the village may collect the flowing water of this spring stealthily. Therefore, tehsildar, Khawas, shall ensure that no villager must use the water from this spring in any case,” the order said.

Experts from three of the country’s top medical institutions – the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh; National Institute of Virology, Pune; and the National Centre for Disease Control – have previously visited the village and conducted microbiological studies on some water and food samples collected there earlier.

Doctors at the hospitals in Rajouri and Jammu had also collected blood and other samples of those hospitalised from the village and sent them to labs in different parts of the country.

Officials said the test reports ruled out any viral, bacterial or microbiological infections. However, experts said “certain neurotoxins” appear to have been found in the samples of those who have died so far.

(With PTI inputs)