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Contaminated food claims seven more lives in Orissa

The consumption of contaminated food has led to the death of seven more persons in Butedi and Kalinga villages of Kandhamal (formerly Phulbani) district in Orissa on Monday, the local tehsildar, Basudev Sahu, said.

Earlier, four persons had died on Saturday and Sunday after consuming mango kernels, he said.

Sixty-year-old Taraga Baliami Pattamajhi and five other members of his family consumed gruel made of mango kernel on Saturday and fell ill. Three of them developed a vomiting sensation and died that same night. Two more died at the local Godapur hospital, one on Sunday and another on Monday, Sahu told rediff.com

The only survivor of the family, who is in a stable condition, has been shifted to the block headquarters hospital at Baligurha taluk, he said.

"I went along with local health officials to the village on Monday and provided Rs 500 to the survivor for his treatment and also provided 20kg of rice to him," Sahu said. The deaths, he added, were not because of starvation, but because of food poisoning.

In a similar incident, two persons died on Monday after consuming contaminated food at Kalingi village that comes under purview of the Godapur primary health centre, he said.

Butedi village has about 22 families, mostly tribals, who depend on the cultivation of maize and millet. Sahu said they found three bags of paddy in a house and the family was eating mango kernel as a part of its normal meal.

There are no drinking water facilities and the villagers depend on a stream, which is also causing health disorders in the village, he said.

Scanty rainfall this year has forced the tribals to survive on wild roots, mango kernels, and rotten meat, local village council head Isak Patamajhi said. More than 12 people have died in Kandhamal over the past 15 days after eating contaminated food, he alleged.

"I have intimated the administration about the plight of the families, but they did not respond immediately," he alleged. The delay led to the death of these seven persons, he told rediff.com

Incidentally, last year around 25 people too had died after eating poisoned mango kernels in neighbouring Rayagada district.

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