Thirty-one people were admitted to the Government Medical College's (GMC) hospital at Yavatmal, Maharashtra for treatment of pesticide poisoning in the last three weeks.

According to a GMC press release issued on September 2 in Yavatmal in Maharashtra, 31 patients were admitted in the hospital since August 13 on complaint of poisoning caused by exposure to pesticides. Of these, 15 are still undergoing treatment in the special ward set for such patients, the release said.

Among the remaining patients, one is on ventilator, while four are in critical condition, it said. These people were involved in spraying pesticides on crops and inadvertently inhaled them. However, the local administration has claimed safety kits have been provided to farmers and labourers, who generally perform the task of spraying pesticides.

Headache, nausea, eye irritation, diarrhoea and dizziness, among others, are symptoms of pesticide poisoning in human beings. Last year, several incidents of death of farmers due to pesticide poisoning were reported from Yavatmal, a major cotton-growing district, prompting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to order an inquiry. Although the government had not specified the number of such deaths, farm activist Kishor Tiwari and the Shiv Sena had said 18 farmers had succumbed to exposure to pesticides.