MULTAN, April 26th: With four more people dying on Monday night, the death
toll in the tragic poisonous sweetmeat in a village no.105 (Fatehpur) of Layyah
district in Punjab province reached 27, officials said here on Tuesday. The 27
people dead from consuming poisonous sweetmeat include five children and eight
of a single family.The sweetmeat was brought from a shop by Sajjad Hussain
sweet merchant in Layyah district on Thursday, some 175 km north-west of Multan
, to celebrate the birth of a child.The sweetmeat was distributed in the
village. DPO Layyah Muhammad Ali Zia said that 27 people have so far been died.
17 people are still under treatment in Nishtar Hospital Multan and District
Head Quarter Hospital Layyah .“Sajjad Hayat along with his six brothers and a
sister died while 19 others who consumed the poisonous sweet also breathed
their last,” Executive District Officer Ameer Abdullah said. Twenty Seven people,
including five children, had died till Tuesday morning, police said. EDO
(Health) Ameer Abdullah said more than 20 people who consumed the same sweet
are still under treatment in Nishter Hospital Multan and district headquarters
hospital Layyah and condition of some of them is critical.He said the health
department has sealed the sweet shop and seized the “remaining poisonous
sweetmeat” and sent for laboratory examination. “We have also lodged an FIR
under the Pure Food Act against the shop owner,” Abdullah said. District Police
Officer Layyah Muhammad Ali Zia said that the shop owner Khalid Mahmoud and his
two brothers were arrested. Punjab Food Minister Bilal Yasin and Director Food
Authority Punjab Aisha Mumtaz reached at Layyah for investigation. They were of
the view that “Cheap imported &
expired liquid glucose is suspected to be used in manufacturing the sweetmeat
at the shop instead of sugar (which costs more),” .While health authorities
were suspected that lizar (chhipkali)fell in the sugar syrup or someone put
pesticides. However investigation is in progress. Meanwhile, Punjab province’s
Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif has announced compensation of Rs.500,000 ($
5000 )to the next of the kin of those died.
