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Everyday, the dimly lit and shabby <keyword id="30587" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="bhatinda">Bhatinda</keyword> railway station in the Indian state of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=punjab&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Punjab</a> comes to life sharp at 9 pm. The reason? The arrival of a passenger train that’s been long christened as the <keyword id="739669" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Cancer-Train">Cancer train</keyword> on platform no 2. 
 
The train leaves Bhatinda around 9.25 pm and covers a distance of about 325 km with 26 halts to reach <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=bikaner&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Bikaner</a> in the Indian state of Rajasthan at 6 am. Sometimes, it’s an hour or two late. 
 
The most remarkable feature of this train is that 60% of its population are <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=cancer&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">cancer</a> patients of all ages who come from all across <keyword id="6354953" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Punjab">Punjab</keyword>. This 12-coach train has gained its name from a sudden increase in cancer cases in Punjab that many blame on pesticide use, growing pollution and hardly any response by authorities. 
 
On an average, this train is the lifeline of 100 cancer patients daily, along with 200 other co-travellers and is almost always packed to near capacity. 
 The ticket is priced at Rs 210, but for cancer patients the eight hour journey to <keyword id="1380" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="bikaner">Bikaner</keyword> is free, while one accompanying attendant gets a concession of 75 percent. 
 
 
(Passemgers aboard the Cancer train. Image credit: Washington Post) 
 
 
All the patients aboard the train undertake this journey to visit Acharya Tulsi Regional Cancer Hospital and Research Centre in Prince Bijay Singh Memorial Hospital, in Bikaner, which like many hospitals in Punjab is also covered for benefits under the Mukh Mantri Punjab Cancer Raahat Kosh Scheme (MMPCRKS). 
 
One of them is a frail 68-year-old Madan Lal who along with his sister boards the sleeper coach, the only compartment with reserved seats, which allows him to lie down on the seat. 
 
All the remaining coaches are of the general category, where passengers jostle to find space. 
 
Lal, who hails from Mallan village in Faridkot district of Punjab has been undergoing treatment for cancer in his food pipe since the last year and has made over 30 visits to the Bikaner hospital. 
 
The first question that comes to mind is invariably this, ‘Why are scores of cancer patients from Punjab travelling to a far-off place in Rajasthan for treatment when Punjab itself boasts of state of the art facilities for cancer treatment?’ 
 
No matter how many people you ask, the answer for that is the same, and equally alarming. As Lal reveals, he did go to Faridkot Government Hospital more than four times last year when his condition deteriorated, however he never got a chance to see any doctor despite waiting for long hours. 
 
 
(Patients line up in Bikaner. Image credit: The Tribune) 
 
 
Additionally, the fact that it is incredibly hard to avail the cash incentives under MMPCRKS in Punjab without any political connection and that the poor are almost always neglected in the government hospital in the state has also attributed to patients taking to the hospital in Bikaner, which is one of the country’s 19 regional cancer research centres and for the cancer-striken in Punjab, the nearest place where treatment is free, and medicines cheap. 
 
Take for instance, Surjeet Kaur, who spent Rs 30,000 in Bhatinda hospitals for chemotherapy for breast cancer or Satya Devi who spent close to Rs 1 lakh for therapy on a cancerous growth on her lip. In the end, both fo them had to go to Bikaner anyway. 
 
Lodging and food in Bikaner come cheap too, making it a lucrative option for patients. A room at a dharamshala in Bikaner costs Rs 50, while a thali in the hospital canteen is only Rs 5. 
 The patients on this train are mostly small farmers from the southern districts of Punjab- Mansa, Sangrur, Bhatinda, Faridkot, Moga, Muktsar, Ferozepur and Sangrur, which together make up the <keyword id="602657" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Malwa-region">Malwa region</keyword>. 
 
It is in this Malwa region that scores of farmers and their families are coming to grips with cancer and numerous health problems due to the lush fields hiding a scary tale. 
 Malwa, which is also Punjab’s cotton belt, requires the use of a startling amount of <keyword id="6444775" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="pesticides">pesticides</keyword>. Reportedly, farmers in this region use 15 different pesticide sprays and the unregulated and excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides have resulted in farmers and their families living in a cesspool of toxicity. 
 
 
(A farmer sprays pesticides in his field. Image credit: Al Jazeera) 
 
 
In 2011, it was also found that Punjab’s farmers use of pesticides is 923 grams per hectare was way above the national average of 570g/ha. Even worse is the fact that farmers also end up using the empty pesticide cans to store not only water but also food, which get contaminated with high heavy-metal toxicity. 
 
The residents have little choice than to drink highly polluted water or bathe in tap water that are sourced from canals where industrial effluents are discharged with impunity. 
 Many of the farmers blame the success of the 1970’s <keyword id="50335" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Green-Revolution">Green Revolution</keyword> for their sorry state right now. It was during then that the farmers had switched to a combo formula of high yield seeds-fertilizers-pesticide-water from traditional farming methods. 
 
Though, a few years ago, the Punjab government set up water purifiers in villages prone to cancer cases, but it was of little help as those were not cleaned properly. 
 
Meanwhile, hundreds of patients crowd the platform to get on the train hoping against hope while there continues to be atleast 18 deaths due to cancer in the state everyday. 
 
 
(Cancer patients get down from the train in Bikaner. Image credit: The Tribune)

The shocking tale of India's 'Cancer Train'

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s <keyword id="101521" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bhagwant-mann" source="Orion">Bhagwant Mann</keyword>, who on Thursday won the Dhuri seat with a margin of 58,206 votes, is set to become Punjab's next chief minister. AAP is heading to a landslide win in the 117-member legislative Assembly by leading at over 90 seats. In his first public address in his home town Sangrur after winning the seat and seeing the meteoric rise of the party, Mann promised to fix unemployment as his first task in office. "No government office in the state will have the photo of the Punjab CM, but will carry a portrait of B.R. Ambedkar." Mann said he will take oath as the Chief Minister in Bhagat Singh's ancestral village Khatkar Kalan and not in Raj Bhawan. "We will ensure that the youth do not have to go abroad... Within a month, you will observe changes," he added. Taking a dig at the opposition leaders, he said, "The elder Badal has lost...Captain (Amarinder Singh) Sahab has also lost. Majithia is also losing. Channi has also lost from both seats." The AAP is leading in 91 of 117 seats in the Punjab Assembly, as per the Election Commission of India (ECI) website at 1.10 p.m. The Congress was leading in 17 seats so far. For the AAP that was banking on 'Hun ek mauka Kejriwal nu (now one chance to Kejriwal)' -- arguably one of the biggest advertisement blitz campaigns -- two-time MP, Mann, took the lead as the chief minister's face. In the 2017 Assembly elections, the AAP had made inroads among Jat Sikhs by emerging as the second largest party with 20 seats, 18 of them in the Malwa region. However, it failed to make a mark in Majha and Doaba regions. Mann held his fort despite Modi wave across the country in 2019 by retaining the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat for the second time in a row. "The fight is not to save some political families but to save Punjab, the farmers, the agriculture, the industry and the youth. Owing to lack of employment and better education infrastructure, our youth is moving abroad," was the common talk of Mann in his folksy style in his elections campaigns. Formerly a popular comedian-actor, Mann, known for his trademark 'basanti' turban, a colour associated with Shaheed Bhagat Singh, has had his fair share of controversies in recent years, especially linked to his drinking habit. In these polls, AAP's vote share is estimated to be close to 42.45 per cent compared to 22.9 per cent of the Congress and 17.9 per cent of the SAD. The meteoric rise of AAP in the 2014 Parliamentary polls and then in the 2017 Assembly elections in Punjab followed by its nosedive owing to 'mass exodus' of its legislators proved a litmus test for the party in the 2022 Assembly polls in the state. Political observers say AAP was seen as the alternative to the traditional parties that had dominated Punjab's electoral space for decades. Learning a harsh lesson from its mistake during the 2017 Assembly polls of not declaring a chief ministerial candidate, this time AAP's CM face Bhagwant Mann was locked in a multi-cornered contest with Congress' 'Aam Aadmi' Charanjit Singh Channi, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Badal, Capt Amarinder Singh, whose new party Punjab Lok Congress is in alliance with the BJP and the Samyukt Samaj Morcha, the fledgling coalition of farm unions. Channi, Sukhbir Badal and Captain Amarinder Singh faced humiliating defeat from their respective seats. In 2017, AAP sought vote in the name of Arvind Kejriwal, and despite him being tagged an outsider, it managed to win 20 seats in the 117-member Punjab Assembly, emerging as the principal opposition party, pushing SAD to the number three position. SEE ALSO <a class="tout-title-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/hul-future-retail-dr-reddys-bharti-airtel-among-stocks-to-watch-out-for-on-march-10/slidelist/90114443.cms">HUL, Future Retail, Dr Reddy’s, Bharti Airtel among stocks to watch out for on March 10</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/politics/elections/news/early-trends-bjp-leads-in-up-uttarakhand-manipur-aap-in-punjab-cong-in-goa/articleshow/90116215.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink">Early Trends: BJP leads in UP, Uttarakhand &amp; Manipur; AAP in Punjab; Cong in Goa</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/politics/india/news/uttarakhand-elections-2022-former-cm-harish-rawat-of-congress-leading-in-lal-kuan-seat/articleshow/90116045.cms">Uttarakhand elections 2022: Former CM Harish Rawat of Congress leading in Lal Kuan seat</a>

AAP's CM candidate Bhagwant Mann wins in Punjab election with whopping margin

CVoter predicts <keyword id="6354944" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aam-Aadmi-Party">Aam Aadmi Party</keyword> (AAP) will open its account in the state with a majority. 
 
Seat share The magic number in <keyword id="6354953" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Punjab">Punjab</keyword> is 59. CVoter predicts AAP winning between 59 and 67 seats in the 117-strong Assembly. This is up from nil in the 2012 Punjab elections. The <keyword id="1575" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Congress">Congress</keyword> party's showing has remained about the same as in 2012. It's predicted to have won between 41 and 49 seats. In 2012, the Congress won 46 seats. The SAD-BJP combine is predicted to have been decimated winning just between 5 and 13 seats, compared with its 2012 showing, when it won as many as 68 seats. 
 
Region-wise break up 
AAP is projected to have gained big in Malwa, at the cost of the SAD-BJP combine. CVoter predicts AAP likely won 42 seats there, with SAD-BJP managing to get just 5 seats. By cmparison, in 2012, SAD-BJP won 33 seats in Malwa in 2012. The Congress is also projected to have lost seats in Malwa. It's expected to have won 16 seats, down from 2012's 28 seats. 
 
In the Doab region, SAD-BJP is projected to have dropped to 2 seats from 16 in 2012. The Congress is projected to have gained here with 19 seats, up from 2012's 11. And AAP is projected to have won 6 seats. 
 SAD-BJP is predicted to have lost big in the <keyword id="523107" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="manjha">Manjha</keyword> region too. It's expected to be down to 2 seats from 19 in 2012. The Congress is expected to have gained three seats in Manjha with CVoter predicting it won 10. AAP is expected to have won 15 seats. 
 
Share of per centage of votes 
The SAD-BJP combine's projected loss of seats reflects in its projected vote share loss as well. The combine's vote share is expected to have dropped by a huge 20.5 per cent, down to 21.4 per cent from 42.9 per cent in 2012. Despite Amarinder, the Congress too is projected to have lost vote share. CVoter's projection shows the Congress vote share is down to 36.3 per cent from 2012's 40.1 per cent. 
 
 CVoterpolled a sample size of 13,717 people. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3 per cent.

You Searched For "Malwa region" and got 3 results

The shocking tale of India's 'Cancer Train'

Poulomi Das

AAP's CM candidate Bhagwant Mann wins in Punjab election with whopping margin

IANS

Punjab exit poll: AAP will open its account with majority

BI India Bureau

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