Cancer lords over 5 Greater Noida villages

At least five villages around the Chhapraula Industrial Area in Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh), have seen an abnormally high number of cancer cases surface in the last five years.

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Move over Punjab's notorious Malwa, for there's a new belt in north India that's ruled by the Big C. And it's less than an hour's drive from the heart of the Capital. At least five villages around the Chhapraula Industrial Area in Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh), have seen an abnormally high number of cancer cases surface in the last five years. These villages are: Sadopur, Achheja, Sadullapur, Bishnuli, and Khera Dharampura, a rural swathe about 30 km from Delhi.

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Most of the cancers in these afflicted villages are related to the organs in the gut, including the liver. Blood cancer is also fairly common. An extraordinarily high number of cases of hepatitis, liver ailments, stomach problems and skin diseases in the context of a preponderance of gut-related cancers point to carcinogens in water.

Villagers from this belt (see accompanying map) said that the groundwater in the area used to be 'sweet' and of good quality till about 20 years ago, when the Chhapraula Industrial Area was set up.

After that, they said, the water has deteriorated alarmingly in quality. The industrial area houses over 100 factories engaged in manufacturing adhesives, cosmetics, pesticides, TV tubes and also the parboiling and dehusking of large quantities of rice. Some local residents who work in the units of the park said that there are no nullahs or drains that carry industrial effluents away. 'It's all being dumped into the ground through wells,' said one on condition of anonymity.

Cases mount

The Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board (UPPCB), which has already collected and tested samples of groundwater from this area, has declared it has found no anomaly in the water. Tests by private entities conducted on behalf of the villagers have also proved to be inconclusive.

Meanwhile, cases of cancer continue to mount here claiming the lives of young and old men, women and children.

Nagendar Singh, the pradhan of Sadopur which has the most cancer cases, said, 'The Greater Noida Authority has done us great harm by shifting the most polluting factories of Delhi to our region. I remember that till even a few years, the groundwater of our area used to be the best in Uttar Pradesh. After these factories came up, our water has turned orange. We have had to install electrical water filters (ROs) in every house and yet new cancer cases are coming up every month.'

The enormity of the situation is most tellingly told by the numbers in Sadopur. Shripal Sharma, a 50-year-old shopkeeper, is suffering from chest tumour. Five years ago, his elder brother Brahmapal Sharma died of throat cancer.

Last year, his son Amit Sharma died of Hepatitis C which is linked by doctors to cancer of the liver. Not just this, two brothers - Bhopal Singh and Shubhlesh Singh - who live next to Sharma are also suffering from cancer while their nephew Reetu also has Hepatitis C.

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Villagers in adjoining Bishnuli village are eager to tell the story of Yogesh Rausa, 23, who died of blood cancer in September. His family members emphasise that he had no bad habit of chewing paan or tobacco, smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol. Neither was there any case of cancer in Rausa's family before this. His uncle Ravinder Singh said, 'He has left behind a wife and a three-year-old child.

You can imagine how we spent our Diwali and Bhai Dooj. There was not one person who did not have tears in his eyes.'

Not very far away, Bisraj Bhati, a 60-year-old, is undergoing treatment for cancer at Max Hospital. Ravinder Singh said, "At least 10 per cent of the village is suffering from cancer. One arthi is lifted every month.' In Khera Dharampura, Harender Bhati is in despair: his two-year old son is suffering from cancer. Said Bhati: 'I spend most of my days at AIIMS. I have a private job but I don't know how I will carry on at this rate.'

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Neeraj Sharma, an advocate from Khera Dharampura, said, 'There is a block here which has now come to be known as 'cancerwala mohalla'. Every other person is suffering there.'

Cautious

The villagers want to be helped, but are cautious about publicity. Said one gram pradhan: 'We do have a large number of cancer cases here but it's better not publicised. We don't want a situation where people of other villages don't want to get their daughters married to our boys.'

The Chief Medical Officer of Gautam Buddh Nagar District, Dr R.K. Garg, pleaded ignorance on the issue. A senior official of the UPPCB acknowledged the problem as part of his denial: 'We have already tested underground water in the area once and have found nothing. We are ourselves trying to understand what the reason for this phenomenon could be-whether it is related to genetics, water pollution or air pollution. We have already written to the CMO of the area to conduct a detailed study.'

The villagers have, however, lost faith in the government and its organs. Local activist Yogesh Nagar said, 'We have little faith in the authorities or UPPCB. We saw how they took samples last time; they were neither sealed nor signed on. Something must be done soon to arrest this situation.'

The five stricken villages of Greater Noida couldn't agree more.