Rajouri (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], January 21 : Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Tuesday visited Rajouri's Badhal amid the unexplained deaths reported in the village.
During his visit, CM Omar Abdullah also met with the affected families.
On mysterious deaths in Jammu & Kashmir's Rajouri, CM Abdullah told reporters, "The day when we got the information, the health department along with other departments have been working to understand the causes behind such incidents... Tests were done, and we reached the conclusion that there were no bacteria or viruses - that caused those deaths."
"Later, we found that all those deaths happened in three families," he added.
He said that the authorities are yet to ascertain the cause behind these deaths.
"But, we are yet to find the reason behind 17 deaths... Since it's not a disease, police are also involved in it and they have formed a team to investigate the matter. Central govt team is also there - and we together will look into the incidents to find the reason behind all these deaths...," CM Omar Abdullah added.
The health department in JK's Rajouri district is working on a war footing with health officials launching extensive screening of residents.
Dr M L Raina, CMO Rajouri, said on Monday, "We have repeatedly screened the 1600-1700 houses. We have screened out 9000-10000 houses from door to door. I have on-record data, day-wise data and date-wise data. We have day-wise data and date-wise data. On the very next day of the 'unidentified' disease outbreak, we deployed our teams. In which we doing active surveillance and passive surveillance. There are our medical mobile units. There is a team of doctors from the National Health Organization. Along with that, we have a lab system too."
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday ordered the constitution of an inter-ministerial team led by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to investigate the causes of unexplained deaths in three incidents reported over the past six weeks.
The Indian Army has been deployed to the area to provide essential supplies, including food, water, and shelter, to the residents.