Title - Meal on Rajdhani Express leaves 13 passengers sick

VARANASI: Thirteen passengers on 12440 New Delhi-Ranchi Rajdhani Express fell ill after consuming the dinner served by the IRCTC's pantry car. A Jharkhand MP, Kameshwar Baitha, was among those who took ill.The matter was reported at Mughalsarai railway station on Saturday. While the incident brought the East Central Railway (ECR) authorities on their toes, the VIP train was also delayed by nearly two hours as a team of doctors had to be summoned to attend to the patients on the coach. The train remained stranded at the station during that period.Giving details of the incident, additional divisional railway manager (ADRM), ECR (Mughalsarai), Ramesh Chandra told TOI that the passengers had consumed dinner at Kanpur on Friday night. They started experiencing uneasiness and vomiting at Allahabad. The matter was reported at Mughalsarai division and a team of doctors rushed to attend to the patients when the train reached the station around 2 pm on Saturday afternoon."The prima facie evidences did not suggest food poisoning as the same dinner was consumed by a number of other passengers on the train. However, an investigation has been ordered into the matter. Five samples of food from the pantry car of the train have been also sent for lab testing," he informed.The list of passengers felling ill also included Kameshwar Baitha, MP from Jharkhand, who was traveling in the VIP train. According to Chandra, a total of 13 passengers in the train were attended by railway doctors that also included Kameshwar Baitha, a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MP from Palamu (Jharkhand), who was travelling in A2 coach of the train. The list included seven passengers in B7 coach, four in A1 and two passengers including Jharkhand MP in A2 coach. The train finally left the station at around 3.30 pm, he added.