Punjab’s war on cancer will receive a fillip with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh laying the foundation stone for a super specialty treatment and research centre at Mullanpur town on the outskirts of Chandigarh and the recent initiatives taken by the Chief Minister.

The Rs. 450-crore state-of-the-art facility is being established by the Bhaba Atomic Research Centre on the lines of the Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai.

Expressing concern over increase in cases of cancer,while addressing a gathering after laying the foundation stone of Rs. 450 crore 'Homi Bhabha Cancer Hospital and Research Centre', the Prime Minister said the government will be setting up a 'National Cancer Centre' in Punjab to fight the dreaded disease. The centre will be linked with zonal and regional cancer centres, he added

Dr. Singh said that the institute would not only cater to the people of Punjab, which has witnessed increase in number of cancer cases, but patients from entire north India can take benefit once the hospital is completed. The Prime Minister expressed hope that the project would be completed within next four years.

Once completed, the Mullanpur institute would have 200 doctors, 500 nurses and other paramedical staff and it would deal with 10,000 new cases each year while 40,000 old cases would be dealt with each year, the Prime Minister said.

The hospital will have modern facilities for treating cancer and 2,500 operations would be carried out each year.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who is a cancer survivor, is personally leading the campaign against the disease. His wife succumbed to it.

Recently he gave consent for starting the scheme of providing cashless treatment to patients at one-and-half dozen empanelled hospitals . Treatment will be financed from the Chief Minister’s Cancer Relief Fund. Under the scheme, patients need not obtain prior sanction for availing themselves of the facilities there.

"The chief minister gave his nod for starting the cashless scheme of providing treatment to cancer patients of the state in hospitals under the Mukh Mantri Punjab Cancer Raahat Kosh from January 2014," said an official spokesman.

Apart from empanelling hospitals for subsidised treatment, the government has come up with the Cancer and Drug Addiction Treatment Infrastructure Act 2013 and raised a corpus of about Rs. 250 crore from various activities in the public sector and set up specialised facilities for treatment.

"Cancer patients could avail the best treatment facilities in the empanelled hospitals at affordable cost," the spokesman said.

Badal said the scheme would prove to be a big help for cancer patients as under it the entire expenditure would be borne by the state government.

Punjab has seen an increase in the number of cancer patients in recent years, especially in the south west Malwa region, due to excessive use of pesticides and insecticides in farming.

There will be a dedicated wing for cancer treatment in the satellite centre of the Chandigarh-based Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research at Sangrur, for which the foundation stone was laid in October by Union Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

According to Health Secretary Vinni Mahajan, a government census revealed that cancer caused 34,430 deaths in recent years and another 24,659 persons were still afflicted.

The incidence of cancer in Punjab has been surging. A survey carried by Punjab government last year revealed that there are 91 cancer patients for every 100,000 population in Punjab.

The Muktsar district alone recorded an astounding 136.3 patients for every hundred thousand population. The figures are higher than the India's national average of 80 patients for every 100,000.

The startling statistics showed that there are 24,659 cancer patients in the state and 87,403 people showed symptoms of the dreaded disease. The survey revealed 34,430 cancer deaths took place in Punjab during 2008 and 2013.

Health department officials in Punjab said entire population of 27.7 million was screened during the comprehensive door-to-door survey.

Based on information provided by government, an average of 18 people used to die daily during last five years because of cancer. However, people are saying that the situation now is much worse.

People in villages are suffering from breast, stomach, lung and cervical cancers. The disease is forcing poor villagers to incur debts for treatment of their family members. Some people have sold parcels of land and animals to pay for cancer treatment.

The last year's cancer survey has provided a baseline for further researches related to the spread of the disease in Punjab and district-wise data which was earlier not there.

While in 2009, a government survey had counted 7,738 people living with cancer across Punjab, the fresh survey has counted 23,874, over three times as high. The government has acknowledged the need to identify the causes and tackle what is clearly a menace.

Some observers are saying that the surge in cancer in Punjab could be the trade-off for the state's remarkable success in agricultural production.

Punjab is considered as the food bowl of India. Its farmers, following the introduction of "Green Revolution," used chemical fertilizers and pesticides to help India double its farm yields.

With increasing yields India became a food exporter and was able to overcome its status as "a hungry nation" in the 1960s.

Studies show that extensive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides over the years has contaminated water sources, food and soil. The hazardous chemicals locals said have seeped into groundwater as well.

In 2005, Punjab pollution control board and New Delhi's Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in a study found that pesticide residues in blood samples of people in affected villages of Punjab.

Experts said pesticide exposure is one among many others that could possibly be linked to cancer.