76 students hospitalised after having Mahashivratri dinner in Greater Noida

As many as 76 students were hospitalised due to suspected food poisoning after having dinner made for those observing Mahashivratri fast at a private hostel in Uttar Pradesh’s Greater Noida, police said on Saturday.

The students, who are enrolled at different colleges, had the dinner on Friday after which many of them complained of uneasiness, dizziness and vomiting, police said.

The students were staying at Aryan Residency in the Knowledge Park area — an educational hub — and had ‘puris’ made of ‘kuttu ka atta’ (buckwheat flour) on account of Mahashivratri on Friday.

“The local police are seized of the incident which took place on Friday evening after around 76 students had their dinner and then complained of their stomachs getting upset. All the students were taken to different hospitals and their condition is stable now,” police said in a statement.

There is no law and order issue due to the incident and the matter is being probed, it added.

Meanwhile, a team of the local food safety department rushed to the site for an inspection.

“The team will collect samples of food items and raw materials used to prepare the dinner. The samples would be analysed and legal proceedings initiated accordingly,” an official told PTI.

Students said they had dinner which was cooked separately for them owing to their fast.

“We had dinner at around 9.30 pm. I started feeling dizzy by 10.30 pm and then went to sleep. Some friends then noticed that a lot of students had started complaining of dizziness, uneasiness, vomiting,” said Piyush, a student recuperating at a private hospital.

“My body started trembling around midnight and I felt feverish and dizzy. Two of my roommates and I were then brought to the emergency department here. Some others in my hostel were vomiting too,” another student Kushal told reporters at the Kailash Hospital.