Hundreds taken ill after partaking Shivratri bhoj

quot;We started receiving patients at around midnight and out of these, atleast five were put on drip,8221; said Dr Swatantar Pal Singh, a physician from Katani Kalan. Its 25-bed civil hospital also received a large number of patients.

However, the exact number of patients was not available by the time of filing of the story. Inquiries made at different clinics and hospitals put the number of affected persons any where between 50 to 200. Many were discharged after giving first aid. The quot;bhandaraquot; was organised by the Shiv Mandir Committee, Katani Kalan, which has Lala Lajpat Rai, Member Parliament as its president. According to Manjit Singh, the MP8217;s brother, the food was cooked by a local quot;halwaiquot;.

The MP was said to be away to Delhi and could not be contacted. According to the village sarpanch Manjit Singh, who was also a part of the committee that organised the quot;bhandaraquot;, close to 1,000 people were taken ill after consuming the food. But no district official, including the civil surgeon8217;s office and the DC8217;s office had any information about the incident till this evening.Sarpanch Manjit Singh said he could not meet the civil surgeon or the district health officer when he went to Ludhiana along with the food samples. quot;We had to give the samples to a private laboratory in Model Town,8221; he said and added the results of the samples were yet to arrive.