New Delhi, Jan 18: Union Home Minister Amit Shah has ordered the constitution of an Inter-Ministerial Team led by the Ministry of Home Affairs to visit the affected village to ascertain the causes of deaths in three incidents in the past six weeks in Jammu’s Rajouri district.

The team will consist of experts from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and Ministry of Water Resources. It will also be assisted by experts from animal husbandry, food safety and forensic science labs.

The team would proceed on January 19 and in collaboration with the local administration would also work on providing immediate relief as well as taking precautionary measures to prevent such incidents in future.

Experts from some of the most reputed institutions of the country have been arranged to manage the situation and understand the causative factors of deaths.

Meanwhile, during a press conference following 16 'mysterious deaths' in over one month in Budhal village of J&K’s Rajouri district, doctors said that the deaths had been caused by neurotoxins.

The principal of Government Medical College (GMC) Rajouri, Dr A.S. Bhatia informed the public that all the deceased individuals shared a common medical condition, brain swelling, or edema. He elaborated on the treatments being provided to affected individuals and assured that the health department was actively monitoring the situation.

The authorities emphasised that investigations were ongoing and promised continued support to the community while seeking to determine the cause of the deaths. Dr Bhatia said the neurotoxins found in samples analysed by premier laboratories of the country resulted in brain damage.

“We try to mitigate the problem of patients reporting with brain damage, but once the patient reports with serious brain damage, we cannot reverse the condition,” Dr Bhatia said.

It must be mentioned that samples collected from the village have been analysed at the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), National Institute of Virology, Pune and other laboratories. Test results did not show any virus or bacteria thereby ruling out any communicable disease. Tests, however, proved that toxins were found in the samples analysed.

The fact that all the victims of the ‘mysterious’ disease belong to three families created doubts about foul play.

The government has ordered an investigation by Rajouri Police to unravel the mystery behind 16 deaths caused in Budhal village between December 7 and January 17. Rajouri Police have constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the case. (IANS)

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