SRINAGAR: Over 360 residents of Badhal village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district, where 17 people died of a mysterious illness, have been moved to government accommodations for quarantine at the district headquarters.
The decision to shift villagers to government centres for quarantine was taken after the Rajouri district magistrate declared the village to be a containment zone last week.
Seventeen people including 13 children and four adults of three families have died in the village in three waves of a mysterious illness from December 7.
An official said to mitigate the situation and prevent further casualties, 87 families comprising 364 individuals were shifted from Badhal village to Rajouri.
These families are currently housed at Government Nursing College, Government Boys Higher Secondary School and GMC & AH and are under observation.
Comprehensive arrangements have been made to ensure the comfort and safety of the affected families, the official said.
The families are being provided meals, water, baby food, sanitary items, medicines, clothing and other daily necessities under close monitoring of doctors and district administration.
The district administration has provided 240 beds, 490 blankets and 303 mattresses to the families.
“The on-site medical team, comprising three doctors and six paramedics, has been put on duty round the clock. Critical care ambulances are stationed at the venues,” the official said.
He said meals are prepared in kitchens under CCTV surveillance, with food samples sent for testing at NFL Ghaziabad and Patoli Food Testing Lab, Jammu.
According to the official, to ensure the safety of the remaining 808 households (3,700 individuals) in Badhal, the village has been divided into 14 clusters monitored by multi-departmental teams of 182 officials.
He said all shops and establishments have been sealed and ration is being provided under strict supervision.
Teams are feeding 424 domestic animals and 168 poultry birds belonging to shifted families.
Daily sampling of food and consumables is underway and 167 blood, urine and nasal swab samples have been collected for testing at GMC Rajouri.
On December 7, four children and the head of a family died while on December 12, a woman and three children of another family died. On January 9, Mohammad Aslam’s six children fell ill and all of them have died since. His maternal uncle and aunt who lived with him also died.
The deaths caused fear in the village.
With health and medical experts ascertaining the cause of the deaths, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has also started a probe.
The inter-ministerial central team also visited the village and collected samples for a detailed investigation.
