It took almost 24 hours for health officials to collect samples from the shop that had supplied “gajrela” for distribution as “prasad” at Gurdwara Thada Sahib in Ayali Khurd village, leaving around 60 devotees sick on Wednesday. Officials inspected the sweet shop in Barewal to collect samples on Thursday whereas villagers stated that the delay would have given ample time to the shopkeeper to dispose of the remnants of the “affected batch”.
Villagers also said that samples from the gurdwara should have been collected immediately after devotees complained of vomiting and loose motions on the occasion of Maghi. The health department didn’t collect samples from the gurdwara right away. District health officer (DHO) Dr Sandeep Singh said initially they were under the impression that the sweet dish had been prepared at the gurdwara, but later found that it was brought from a sweet shop nearby.
When asked that the delay would have given time to the shopkeeper to do away with the batch that had caused the problem, DHO Singh said, “We had asked the gurdwara management to keep the remaining ‘gajrela’ aside. We have taken a sample of that as well.”
According to Sudhar senior medical officer (SMO) Dr Davinder Kumar, a total of 60 people fell ill after eating the sweet dish. While 34 of them were admitted to various hospitals, the information about the rest was found during a door-to-door drive on Thursday.
Nine people continue to be hospitalised, while others have been discharged. The other people, Dr Davinder, said they had symptoms but took medicine from nearby and were improving.
