taosplaza.com

Panaji, Goa: Around 30 police personnel were hit by suspected food poisoning at the police training school (PTS), Valpoi, on Wednesday last.

"Around 30 of us fell sick immediately after dinner," a police constable, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Times of India. The affected personnel, including women, suffered from diarrhea and abdominal pain. Police medical officer Kalpana Mahatmi was called on Thursday.

"We do not know the cause of the problem, but what we can tell you is that the condition that our mess is a mess," a constable said. "We have absolutely unhygienic conditions. There is a huge pile of garbage outside the mass, which is not cleared on a regular basis. It is a breeding ground for blue bottle flies. What's worse is that some of the staff at the mess use the area as an open bathroom and bathe their," he added.

Related story in the same newspaper:

No food poisoning occurred at PTS

SP in charge of police training school (PTS), Valpoi, Shekhar Prabhudessai told Times of India on Tuesday that he was unaware of any food poisoning at the institution last Wednesday. "Nothing like this has happened. I should have known about it and so forth, the personnel would have to be hospitalized," he said.

However, PST inmates had a different story to tell. The 30 affected personnel said they were given medication. So far, no water samples have been taken for testing and the cause of the sudden sickness is given as unknown.

"None of us had consumed food from outside, as we are only allowed to keep outside on Saturdays," another constable said.

Senior officials say there are at least 200 personnel undergoing training at the PST and contend that's the incident was a one-off occurrence.

It could be due to a change in climate. If it was the water, then it should have occurred again," an official said.