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In the second major case of food contamination in a week, nearly 500 people, mostly children, have been taken ill after consuming sprouted gram distributed by members of the All Bodo Students Union in Assam's Nalbari district on August 15, official sources said on Friday.
The victims complained of vomiting and fever after consuming the sprouted gram distributed by ABSU men at Borbori village on Independence Day.
Of the 500, condition of about 50 was stated to be serious.
More than 100 victims have been shifted to the Guwahati Medical College hospital.
Samples of the gram were being collected from different districts for examination, following reports that the gram served to the children was mixed with pesticide to be used in the paddy field, the sources said.
The government on Friday ordered a ban on the sale of gram throughout the state with immediate effect pending an investigation.
The incident followed another similar case in which more than 500 people, mainly children, were affected after being served with gram in neighbouring Barpeta district on August 9.
Two of them died in hospital.
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