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65 fall prey to food poisoning after village festivities in Maval
The village’s poor water supply and quality management programme led to this situation, according to sources
PUNE: Around 65 residents of two villages in Maval taluka, Pune district, fell prey to food poisoning and had to be admitted to various local hospitals after they attended a local deity’s festival and consumed the food prepared there as prasad.
The incident occurred on November 18 when residents of the Shivli and Bhadawli villages in Maval taluka participated in the celebrations and were served lunch prepared for devotees after the aarti. By dinner time, about 60 to 65 out of the 250 people who attended the festival started complaining of vomiting, headache and stomachache and had to be admitted to nearby hospitals, including the YCM hospital in Pimpri. The Pune zilla parishad (ZP) sent a team to the village to find out the reason behind the food poisoning and an OT test of the water used to prepare the prasad (lunch) revealed that its quality had been compromised and that it had lower quantities of chlorine than what is mandated. The village’s poor water supply and quality management programme led to this situation, according to sources.
However block development officer Sudhir Bhagwat said, “This cannot be the sole reason for the outbreak because had it been the case, the entire population of the village would have fallen sick even before the festivities. But out of the 250 people who consumed the food, only 60 to 65 fell sick. We have sent the food and water samples to the state health laboratory for testing and only after we get the results will we be able to say what actually led to the incident. All the affected people are currently doing well and have been discharged from various hospitals.”
Notwithstanding, the incident brings to the fore the poor water supply and quality management system in rural areas of Pune district which needs to be kept in check to prevent such outbreaks in future. Zilla parishad chief executive officer (CEO) Ayush Prasad said, “The management of water quality in rural areas is not very bad though we have less than 10 water treatment plants (WTPs) in the district. However, we are working to build more WTPs with advanced technology. We also face the issue of limited water tariff collection and the wear-and-tear needs to be kept in check for which we are now regularising the tariff collection system.”
