VADODARA: The district administration of Chhota Udepur sprang into action on Tuesday after two girl students died mysteriously at Rajiv Gandhi Ashramshala at Rojkuva village on July 6.The school is managed by the Shri Pragat Purshottam Kelvani Mandal, whose president is former junior railway minister Naran Rathwa.The girls, Raksha Rathwa and Vaishali Rathwa, were in class IV of the residential school. On the morning of July 6, they complained of health problems. While Raksha was taken to a nearby public health centre by the principal and was later referred to the general hospital in Chhota Udepur town, the Vaishali was taken to the public health centre in Tejgadh by a school cook. Both of them succumbed during treatment.The school authorities informed the girls’ parents about the deaths. However, the reason for the deaths could not be known as the parents refused to allow autopsies of the bodies. When the health department learned about the deaths, a team inspected the school.“We conducted health check-ups and collected blood samples from other students. No other student was found to be ill. Because postmortems were not conducted, the exact cause of death cannot be known. We will have to check the family histories of the two girls. Only then can we arrive at a conclusion,” said Mahesh Choudhary, chief district health officer of Chhota Udepur. The school principal claimed that the girls were suffering from sickle cell anaemia.On Tuesday, the district collector and superintendent of police of Chhota Udepur visited the school.“I spoke to the girls’ parents but they did not want to get postmortems done. We asked for their family health records, which we will get tomorrow,” said Sujal Mayatra, the district collector.

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