After a week of rumours of impending attacks on Northeasterners, Eid passed off peacefully in the state amid tight security.
“We had made elaborate security arrangements for the festival and also to provide protection to Northeast people,” Deputy Chief Minister R Ashok said.
However, rumours of poisoned milk and reports of allergic reaction to mehendi marred the festival.
Reports from Hubli, Shimoga and Mangalore said frightened people stopped buying milk, leading to losses to milk cooperatives, which had stepped up production in view of Eid.
Police in Mangalore suspect one Nazeer, who allegedly triggered the scare.
Sources in Dharwad Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union told Express that it had targeted sales of 1.
5 lakh litres on the festive day.
The Shimoga Milk Union suffered a loss over `10 lakh as more than 50,000 litres of milk went unsold.
Some masjids in Shimoga too are said to have cautioned people not to buy milk.
There were rumours in Dakshina Kannada that an infant had died and many were sick after consuming milk.
District milk union president Raviraj Hegde and directors Sucharita Shetty, B Niranjan and Savanoor Sitaram Rai practically demonstrated that the milk was safe by sipping the milk at a press conference.
In Hubli and Shimoga, many people complained of allergic symptoms after applying mehendi.
A doctor in Hubli said he had treated 12 patients who had used an old stock of mehendi.
In Shimoga, hundreds were treated at McGann Hospital for allergic symptoms due to a chemical in the mehendi.
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