Chidambaram (Tamil Nadu), Jan. 3: Twenty-four policemen on duty at the Indian Science Congress began to throw up last night after eating at a hotel outside the venue and had to be taken to hospital. They were treated as outpatients and at least one was put on an intravenous drip.

This morning, six more people — three members of the Prime Minister’s security team and three delegates — had a stomach upset after breakfast at the Food Court set up on the campus. The breakfast menu included idlis, dosas, pongal, puris and a sweet called kesari, all cooked in Chettinad style. Officials played down the incident, calling it a “gastronomic” problem.

But lunch at the Food Court still proved to be a big draw — when Nobel laureates Aaron Ciechenover from Israel and Hartmut Michel from Germany gave their lectures in the afternoon, the hall was less than full.

The “grand family of Chettinad” — scions of the late Annamalai Chettiyar, the philanthropic-banker-industrialist who had founded Annamalai University, which is hosting the congress — have brought over nearly 500 cooks and helpers from Karaikudi, the heart of Chettinad, to feed the delegates. A variety of rice dishes, sweets, vegetarian specialities like kootu (a spicy mixed vegetable preparation) and non-vegetarian fare is on offer. Karaikudi is also home to the finance minister, P. Chidambaram.

But if food was a hit with the delegates, accommodation was not. Many scientists have been housed in nearby towns like Cuddalore and Mayiladuthurai and some are having to commute from Pondicherry, which is a good 75 km away from Chidambaram.

Late last night, the police took over 50 rooms booked for delegates and others on the university premises on the pretext of tightening the Prime Minister’s security, sources said. “We were totally helpless. A solemn academic function has turned political,” a university official said.

Huge cutouts of the Prime Minister, Tamil Nadu governor S.S. Barnala and chief minister M. Karunanidhi at a gate to the venue also put off several delegates.