FATEHGARH SAHIB: Pesticide spray proved disastrous in Salkiana village of Jalandhar district.  This was the conclusion of the repot of a Fact Finding visit by Kheti Virasat Mission. Umendra Dutt. The whole village had faced poisoning effects even as many school children got unconsicious on fateful day, July 21 last.

Executive Director, Kheti Virasat Mission informed that July 21, 2006 began as any other day for the residents of Salkiana village. That was until around 8.30 am - until they started feeling severe suffocation and breathlessness. He said that the worst affected were the school children of the Government-run Elementary School.

He said that it was just after Morning Prayers that the students started complaining of a strange smell and breathlessness. The teachers were not aware of what happened either. Suddenly one student fell unconscious near the hand pump of the drinking water tube well] and then student after student started to faint. Within ten minutes, 16 students fainted after inhaling something that was toxic.

He said that it was not just the school children who were affected. He said that the villagers outside the school were also experiencing and complaining about breathlessness by then. Some women in the adjoining houses are reported to have fainted too.

He said that there was total panic in the village for a while.  He said that it was only then the villagers began to realize what happened – it was a deadly pesticide sprayed in a nearby sugarcane field that had affected the villagers. He said that the villagers then understood that they were experiencing acute poisoning symptoms.

 Meanwhile the farm workers, who had sprayed this pesticide, came into the village and disclosed that they had sprayed Phorate. In this case, it was Sudarshan Chemicals'  Sutox 100 that they had sprayed. The workers had sprayed 15 kilos of Phorate 10G in 3.75 acres by then. 

The Executive Director said that in the  school, the situation had become quite serious by then and the teachers started experiencing breathlessness too. He said students started complaining of difficulty in breathing, severe headache, body ache, irritation in eyes, uneasiness, dizziness and some of them started vomiting.

He said that the teachers acted very swiftly and informed the higher authorities and the local health officer. Within half an hour, a team of doctors reached the school and first-aid was administered. The affected students and teachers were shifted to Civil Hospital, Phillaur the nearest town. However, some parents took their children to private hospitals also. Some children with severe breathlessness were administered oxygen.

Dutt said that following the incident, a fact finding visit was made by Kheti Virasat Mission on  July 26 and July 28  to this village. He said that the  teachers, the students, the other affected villagers, the Sarpanch and other farmers were interviewed as part of the fact finding visit.  He said in addition, the Fact finding team spoke with the doctors in the Civil Hospital and met with the SDM, Phillaur.  He said that this report tries to give a picture of the situation based on all the information gathered from these interviews and discussions.

He said according to the doctors at civil hospital, patients were admitted with following signs and symptoms [somewhat varying between patients]:

Excessive Lacrimation, Excessive Salivation, Dizziness, Nausea and  Vomiting, Breathlessness,  Body aches and cramps. These patients were given first-aid there and then in the village and later referred to Civil Hospital, Phillaur.

He said that total 18 persons. One adult male, seven adult females, 5 male children and 5 female children were admitted to Civil Hospital, Phillar. He said that these patients were in the hospital for three days. Two others patients Suman (18 year old young girl) and Sunita (14 year old girl) were admitted in a private nursing home at Phillaur. Sunita, a newly-married girl inhaled the toxic fumes when she had gone near the fields the next day. Her condition deteriorated soon after and she was taken to the Civil Hospital. She was then referred to a hospital in Ludhiana as her condition was found to be critical. Her family members got her admitted in to Arora Hospital. She was here for four days.  These are the 21 cases of hospitalization from the inhalation poisoning from the phorate spraying.

He said that at the  time of the fact finding visit, some of the students and teachers were still unwell, even after six days. They had irritation in eyes up to six days, itching of the skin and general uneasiness. The teacher in the government school Bhagwan Dass was complaining of disturbance in his digestive system. He is suffering from constipation and urinary problem. Same were the complaints from Hardev Singh (38) and Asha Sharma (34), both teachers at the government school. Bakshish Chand, (37), who is also the ex-sarpanch of the village, had similar complaints. All children and adults, exposed to Phorate , were experiencing loss of appetite even on sixth day after exposure.   Most of the children poisoned were from SC community with low incomes.

Dutt claimed that after this incident, there is widespread resentment and concern amongst the villagers regarding pesticides. They are quite worried about safety from pesticides. The elders at village feel that there should at least be restrictions followed about spraying away from the village that too from schools etc.

Ram Kishan, Harjeet Ram and Ram Swarup (all members of the Panchayat) and other villagers were of the strong view that some concrete steps should be taken to prevent such mishaps in future.  

He said that the doctors who worked tirelessly at Civil Hospital, Phillaur were admitting their limitations in dealing with a case like this, given that none of them is a trained environmental epidemiologist.