As many as 25 cases of cancer have been reported from Harsola village in Indore district in the last five years, an NGO has claimed, prompting the government to announce a special survey.
 

This rate of cancer occurrence is five times the normal rate, according to the Indore Cancer Foundation, a non-governmental organisation. The population of the village is around 9,200. "As per the government data, 25 cases of different types of cancer were reported in the village in five years. Fifteen of them, including five women, died," said the Foundation's honorary secretary Dr Digpal Dharkar.

Dharkar, an oncologist, claimed that the rate of cancer incidence in the village is five times the usual rate. Harsola, 20 km from Indore city, is famous for its potato variety which has less starch content and which is in huge demand from chip-making companies in India and abroad. According to Dr Dharkar, the cases found in the village included eight cases of cancers of head and neck, three case of gastrointestinal tract caner, five cases of urinary tract cancer and three cases of breast cancer.

"We will be conducting a special medical screening in the village, so that those who have cancer can be given treatment at the earliest," said Indore division commissioner Raghvendra Singh. An awareness campaign would be conducted in the entire division, he said. The survey will be conducted with the help of ICF within 20 days, and on the basis of its findings, further measures will be taken, said Indore district panchayat CEO Neha Meena. "We are already taking steps to create awareness about breast cancer among women in the village," she added.