Coonoor (Tamil Nadu):
Fourteen persons, including six children, were hospitalised after drinking water from three overhead tanks in Railway quarters on Friday. The tanks were infested with rats and snakes.
They were treated as outpatients at the government hospital in the town and later discharged, police said.
Some residents of the colony, where 136 families reside, opened the tanks to find rats and snakes and immediately informed Railway officials, police said.
Protesting against the 'apathy' of the Railways, some residents squatted on the Coonoor-Meetupalayam Road, disrupting vehicular traffic for nearly 30 minutes and lifted it only after an assurance from authorities that action would be taken against those concerned.