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40 hit by food poisoning
at Bihar sports meet

Forty athletes, participating in the 12th Bihar Women Sports Festival, took ill following complaints of food poisoning, on the eve of a felicitation of Karnam Malleshwari by the Rabri Devi government.

They had to be rushed to Patna Medical College Hospital, where 24 of them were released after treatment on Sunday.

The girls started vomiting after drinking tea at the Arya Kanya High School, where they were lodged.

District magistrate Amit Khare has ordered the civil surgeon to seal the food, but the girls alleged that the organisers immediately disposed of the food and tea.

Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Laloo Prasad Yadav, who rushed to the hospital and school, was told by the girls that they had been provided rice with worms, stale pulses, rotten eggs and tasteless vegetables.

When they complained, officials reportedly replied: "If you want to eat all right, otherwise go.''

They complained that they had not bathed for four days and that about two dozen of them were in one classroom. Yadav conceded that the place was unfit for accommodation and also asked the Kadam Kuan police to lodge a case against the caterer.

The budget for the five-day festival is Rs 45 lakh.

When a participant fainted after the 400-metre race, she was lifted by other athletes and taken to an ambulance, as the organiser had not made any arrangement for a stretcher.

Commenting on poor arrangements at the sports festival, Ajita Bhagni, a girl recuperating at the hospital said: "Malleshwari should not come here, otherwise the officials will kill her."

The bronze medal winner in the Sydney Olympics will be in Patna, where Chief Minister Rabri Devi will honour her on Monday evening. She will be given Rs 11 lakh and will be guest of honour at the closing ceremony of the festival.

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