The over 100 students of a school in Uttar Pradesh who were admitted to different hospitals following gas leakage from a nearby sugar mill have been discharged, an official said on Wednesday.
Noxious gas from the Upper Doab Sugar Mill following spraying of a chemical on the waste there caused nausea, itching and teary eyes to the students of Saraswati Vidya Mandir School in Shamli on Tuesday.
The students, who had been admitted to a medical college in Meerut, have been discharged after treatment and parents of five children have been asked to place them under observation at home, district authorities said.
Meanwhile, most of the schools in Shamli witnessed thin attendance on Wednesday as parents feared sending their children out.
The sugar mill has been sealed and the police was looking for the mill owner who fled after the incident, district authorities said.
A team of the Pollution Control Board officials also reached the mill on Wednesday and seized the chemical sprayed on the industrial waste there.
Locals have alleged that the mill on the Budhana Road dumps its waste on the roadside and burns it in the open, often leading to choking and coughing problems to people living in the vicinity.
The same road has two schools — Saraswati Vidya Mandir and Saraswati Junior High School.
A probe ordered by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has also been initiated and the Saharanpur Divisional Commissioner is on the job, an official said.
The Principal of the school, Ravindra Kumar, has filed a complaint against the sugar mill management at the Shamli police station.
He said that about a fortnight back, the school had made a complaint to the sugar mill officials regarding a similar issue but the plea fell on deaf ears.