CUTTACK: As many as 170 people fell ill at Raisunguda village in Salipur block in the district after consuming sarbat during the Mahashivaratri celebrations.Police said Jagar Mela was organized at Raisunguda on Wednesday on the occasion of Shivaratri festival and hundreds of villagers had thronged to the fair to enjoy it. A sarbat shop was also opened in the fair and hundreds of people had consumed sarbat from the shop.However, in the late night many villagers started complaining of uneasiness, nausea, vomiting and loose motion. One after another, people started thronging to the nearest health centre. By Thursday morning, the Raisunguda health centre was packed with patients. Seeing the huge inflow of patients, district officials swung into action and shifted patients to nearby Mahanga and Salipur health centres. At least nine patients, whose condition was bit critical, were sent to SCB Medical College and Hospital “During investigation, we found that all the affected people had consumed sarbat from the particular shop in the fair. It seems the people fell ill due to food poisoning,” said inspector in charge of Salipur police station, P K Majhi.Meanwhile, the sarbat shop owner is absconding after the incident. “We have received no complaint so far, but taking suo moto action in the case we have launched manhunt to nab the sarbat shop owner,” added Majhi.The chief district medical officer, Biswa Kalyan Patnaik also took note of the situation. “Adequate arrangements have been made at the health centres to ensure proper treatment to the patients. Condition of all the patients is stable,” said Patnaik. He said that doctors and paramedic staff from periphery health centres have been diverted to Raisunguda and Mahanga health centres to provide treatment to the patients. Even adequate amount of medicines have also been stocked up.The CDMO also suspects that use of poor quality of water and food items in the sarbat has lead to the food poisoning. “A detail probe will be conducted in the matter,” said a police officer.By evening, at least 60 persons were discharged from the hospitals as their condition improved.

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