Over 70 fall ill in Haryana after eating food made of 'kuttu' flour
Ambala/Yamunanagar, Apr 3: Over 70 people fell ill in Haryana's Ambala and Yamunanagar districts after consuming food items prepared of 'kuttu' (buckwheat) flour, consumed mostly during the nine-day 'Navratra' festival, which began on Saturday.
Around 50 people were taken ill in Ambala after consuming 'chapatis' prepared with 'kuttu' flour on Saturday night, officials said.
They added that all of them were admitted to the civil hospital where their condition was stated to be stable.
Hospital sources said they might have consumed adulterated 'kuttu', which is used by people who fast during the festival.
Ambala Food Safety Officer Rajiv Kumar said that he had received information in this regard on Saturday night.
The cases were reported from Ambala Cantonment as well as the city area, the officials said.
One of the patients admitted at the civil hospital said that he had purchased the flour from a grocery shop at Kachcha Bazaar in Ambala Cantonment, they said.
After collecting information from the patients, the food safety officer raided several shops and collected samples of 'kuttu' flour and other edible items generally used during Navratri.
Kumar said that all the samples have been sent to the state laboratory for testing. After getting the report, strict action will be taken against those shopkeepers whose 'kuttu' flour is found adulterated, he said.
In Yamunanagar district, over 20 people fell sick after eating bread made of buckwheat flour. They were admitted to different hospitals there, the officials said.
According to the officials, some of the patients in Yamunanagar said they ate 'chapatis' made of the flour on Saturday, following which they fell ill.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Health minister Wes Streeting's resignation piles pressure on UK PM Starmer
London (PTI): UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting resigned from the Cabinet on Thursday, declaring that he had lost confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
As a frontrunner to replace Starmer at 10 Downing Street, Streeting is expected to launch his bid to be elected Labour leader if he can secure the backing of the party's requisite 81 members of Parliament.
It piles further pressure on Starmer, who has been attempting to quell an internal rebellion over the devastating results for the governing party in last week’s local elections.
“It is now clear that you will not lead the Labour Party into the next general election and that Labour MPs and Labour unions want the debate about what comes next to be a battle of ideas, not of personalities or petty factionalism," Streeting said in his resignation letter addressed to Starmer.
“It needs to be broad, and it needs to be the best possible field of candidates. I support that approach and I hope you will facilitate it,” he said.
The former minister accused his boss of lacking any vision and overseeing a power “vacuum” and also went on to highlight his own record of leading the Department for Health and Social Care and state-funded National Health Service (NHS).
Streeting added: “The National Health Service is the embodiment of all that is best about Britain and our values. Thanks to our Labour government, it is on the road to recovery: lots done, but so much more to do.
“These are all good reasons for me to remain in post, but as you know from our conversation earlier this week, having lost confidence in your leadership, I have concluded that it would be dishonourable and unprincipled to do so.”
His words are being interpreted as paving the way for a Labour leadership contest, with former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband among his other expected rivals.
While some indications are that this process may not be triggered any time soon, Starmer's future as Labour leader is looking extremely tenuous if the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) gets involved in a formal election process.
Meanwhile, Rayner issued a statement earlier to confirm that she had been cleared by the UK tax authorities of any wrongdoing over her financial affairs that had forced her to step down from the Cabinet last year.
"I took reasonable care and acted in good faith, based on the expert advice I received, and HMRC [His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs] has accepted this," she said.
This is seen as her declaring her intention to be ready to join the fray, should a Labour leadership election be launched.
The latest turmoil at the top of the British government comes after a series of junior ministerial resignations, with Starmer staying the course by announcing their replacements. Earlier his ally, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, cautioned her colleagues to refrain from plunging the country into chaos and putting the UK’s economic recovery at risk.
“We shouldn’t put that at risk by plunging the country into chaos at a time when there is conflict in the world, but also at a time when our plan to grow the economy is starting to bear fruit," she said.
However, the deep divisions within the Labour Party ranks are only expected to escalate further in the coming days and weeks.
