RAIPUR: About 29 girl students of primary classes were taken ill and admitted at hospital after consuming morning meal at a government residential hostel in Sukma district on Tuesday. Alleging food poisoning due to poor quality of food served to students, ABVP workers protested outside school on Wednesday.Though district administration denied that girls fell ill due to food poisoning saying that the vegetables served weren’t properly washed and apparently the pesticides and chemicals used in fields may have led to stomach ache and vomiting among children.The tribal girls of class 1-5 residing at government hostel of Birla worst Maoist infested Konta block in Sukma district complained of stomach ache and few of them also puked soon after having morning meal on Tuesday.They had rice-dal, potatoes and cabbage in their meal.According to Pradeep Kumar Baidh, sub-divisional magistrate, “initially about 8-10 children complained of stomach ache and were rushed to hospital. As they just had meals, we assumed they fell ill due to food, hence as a preventive measure few more students were brought to the hospital who later complained of stomach ache and were provided treatment. As they felt better by the evening they were discharged on Tuesday night.”As it was late and the hostel was located quite far from the Errabore hospital , considering the risk factor, we arranged the stay of students at neighbouring government hostel and provided them dinner, said the SDMBut despite initial treatment and consuming food at another hostel, there were 16 girls who again complained of abdominal pain and were readmitted to hospital.Baidh told TOI that in the initial probe it’s clear that it wasn’t food poisoning but the pesticides used by farmers on vegetables which were probably washed properly. “The 16 girls are keeping well now and would be discharged by Wednesday evening. However, the probe is still underway and preventive measures were being taken to serve safe food.”According to sources, there was delay of more than an hour in taking the girls to hospital in absence of resources and the hostel management had to seek help from CRPF jawans to shift the girls to hospital. Also, the hostel superintendent was on leave when the incident took place.

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