Cuttack: Orissa Human Rights Commission (OHRC) has set February 5 as deadline for the collector of Angul to submit a report on the incident in which 17 students of an upper primary school fell sick after consuming the fruit of a kaniar (yellow oleander) plant, which is poisonous.

The incident had occurred on December 14 at the Anantapalli Upper Primary School in Athamallick block of Angul district.

While all were shifted to the Angul district headquarters hospital, three of them had to be sent to the SCB Medical College Hospital in Cuttack when their condition deteriorated.

All the 17 students, aged between six and nine years, recovered after treatment. The incident came under the OHRC scanner after Ranjit Sutar, a member of Civil Society Forum for Human Rights filed a petition alleging negligence on part of the school authorities.

Acting on it, the commission has sought a report from the district collector to ascertain the veracity of the allegations made in the petition. The commission has also sought a report from the Angul district education officer.

"The commission has posted the matter to February 5 for hearing along with the report of the collector and the district education officer," Sutar said on Wednesday.

Although the order was issued on December 16, a copy of it was received by the petitioner on Wednesday.

According to the OHRC order, Sutar had in his petition said that during lunch break, a student of Anantapalli Upper Primary School plucked a fruit from a kaniar on the school premises and consumed the same and told his friends it tasted good. Following that, 16 more students consumed the fruit. After a few minutes, all of them complained of giddiness and began vomiting.

When the school authorities came to know about it, the sick students were taken to the hospital.

Drunken headmaster

A headmaster of a government-run upper primary school in Simulia block of the district was suspended on Thursday on charge of perpetrating alcoholic nuisance on the school premises.

Shankarshan Das, headmaster of Hatuari upper primary school in Sabanga gram panchayat, had come to the school drunk and verbally abused the students and his subordinates on Wednesday.

An inquiry found veracity in the allegations, said block education officer Mayadhar Sahu.