At least 35 people have lost their lives due to cancer in the past five years in Bhojakhedi village in Madhya Pradesh's Ratlam district.
Manoj Chawla, Congress MLA from Alot town in the district said, "In Bhojakhedi village there are cases of cancer and in most of the cases the disease remained undiagnosed. I have written to the state Health Minister Tulsi Ram Silawat and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath and demanded an investigation that why there are so many deaths due to cancer here."
Besides Bhojakhedi village, deaths due to cancer are also reported from Javara village.
Rajveer Singh, local of the village said that three members of his family have died due to cancer.
"In my family, my great grandfather, my father, and my wife also died due to cancer. We have got drinking water samples checked but could not infer anything from it. After 1990, this disease spread here and most of the people are suffered from throat, lungs or uterus cancer. We need to set up a medical camp here so that people could get treatment on time before it takes more lives," Singh said.
Meanwhile, another local said, "About 35 people here have died due to cancer in the last five years. There is only one survivor here. I want the administration to help people."
An official from the State Health Department said, "We have got information about the increasing number of cases of cancer, we ordered to get water sample checked. In our labs, we checked them but nothing was found in water that can cause cancer. We have written to the pollution control board in Ujjain."
( With inputs from ANI )