Two children including an infant died and more than 50 people fell ill after eating kheer, or sweet rice pudding, at a mass feast in a Madhya Pradesh village in Tikamgarh district 250km from state capital Bhopal, officials said on Wednesday.
Officials said the feast was organised on Sunday and people started falling ill the following day. Tikamgarh chief medical and health officer PK Mahor said the district authorities learnt of the incident from the designated Asha worker only on Tuesday.
A medical camp manned by three doctors was set up on Wednesday to treat the villagers and 12 of the 56 villagers who turned up were referred to the Tikamgarh district hospital, said block medical officer Prashant Jain.
Jain added said Jayanti, a nine-month-old infant who was already unwell and was given a bit of the kheer, died due to dehydration on Monday. Another 9-year-old girl, Priyanka also died after her condition deteriorated.
A representative of sarpanch Pushpendra Jain said, “At least 600 people consumed the kheer on Sunday afternoon at a religious programme. Later in the day, kheer was also distributed in different areas. Sixty people fell ill after consuming it and the doctors treated them.
“The villagers don’t want any police case in the matter because the programme was collectively organised by them,” he added.
Tikamgarh collector Subhash Kumar Dwivedi has ordered an inquiry into the case.