The NRI students at the IPRD Hall in Patna on Sunday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, Jan. 23: Twelve of the 35 non-resident Indian (NRI) students touring Bihar as a part of the Know India Programme of the Union ministry of overseas Indian affairs have taken ill allegedly because of unhygienic food and poor lodging facilities.

Some guests complained about unclean rooms and restrooms. Others said the food was not fresh. Even room heaters, a must in winter in most parts of the state, were few.

The students had been put up at Kautilya Vihar Hotel on Beer Chand Patel Path. Its management refused to comment.

The state department of art, culture and youth affairs was responsible for the hospitality of the guests. Its officials claimed that the NRIs might have fallen sick because they could not adapt to the local conditions.

“The guests are from 12 different countries, with very different conditions and habits from ours. Perhaps their bodies could not adjust to the conditions here and they were taken ill,” said K.P. Ramaiah, the principal secretary of art, culture and youth affairs. He said the guests would not have an opportunity to complain in the future.

But what happened in the past few days is a shame for his department. Keshri Pragg, a Trinidad and Tobago resident, told The Telegraph: “The people were so warm but the hospitality failed to live up to the expectations. There were rats in the room. We had to scream at the hotel employees to get what we wanted. We shall always remember that the state government failed to take care of us properly.”

Pragg added: “Most of us are not used to live in conditions like this. If the state government organises such trips, it should also ensure that these are properly managed. If they cannot ensure expected standards, they should not be organising such programmes.”

Yasteel Deep Narain from Durban, South Africa, said: “I did not like the food served to us in the hotel. I had to survive on biscuits for few days. But I fell ill as well.” Narain claimed that many of the rooms in which the NRI students were put up did not have heaters. “It is so cold but there was no heater in my room. I had to ask the hotel management a number of times before I got one,” he said.

Some of the guests were still all praise for the state and the development they saw.

“The state has a lot of potential. I have been reading about Bihar on the Internet. It seems the state is progressing in leaps and bounds under the leadership of chief minister Nitish Kumar. I am sure that Bihar will soon be as developed as the other states of India,” said Arish Naresh, a student from New Zealand.