More than one hundred students of Agia College in Assam’s Goalpara district have fallen ill after two days of consuming grams which were offered them as ‘prasad’ on Tuesday after a cultural rally.
On Thursday, six students were admitted to two different hospitals and hundred others are undergoing treatment in their own houses.
“The rally was arranged as part of the college week and prasad was distributed to the students by the student union body. Ranjushri Nath, general secretary of the student union body fell ill as the first victim after consuming prasad,” informed Dr. Utpal Das, principal of Agia College.
“As the conditions of the students turned out to be worse on Thursday, I took medical help from the joint director of health services which deployed two medical teams,” the principal of Agia College further said.
The college authority immediately cancelled all programmes of the college week and declared Friday and Saturday as holidays.
“We have five hundred students and hundreds of them are currently bed-ridden. It is a big shock for all of us and we are trying to help the students recover from all sides,” said the principal.
Meanwhile, when contacted, Dr. Nilmadhav Das, joint director, health services, Goalpara, said, “Most of the students were suffering from fever, vomiting and loose motion. They have been treated and are under observation and are out of danger.”
The college authority has made a written request to the joint director of health services seeking laboratory test of the food consumed by the students. But no FIR has been filed against the grocery shop at Agia from where the food items were procured.