Shamli (Uttar Pradesh), Dec 18 (IANS): More than 2,000 people have been reported to be suffering from Hepatitis C in a village in Shamli district due to contamination in the groundwater.

A lake in the Maamour village in Shamli district has subjected the people to slow poisoning since Kairana's effluent is directed towards this water body.

The contamination has adversely affected the groundwater too, and the Maamour village (population of 2,500) is the worst affected.

Villagers claim that around a dozen people have died in the past one year due to this.

Two brothers, Noor and Salman died due to Hepatitis C last month.

Hepatitis C and cancer cases are on the rise along with skin-related diseases.

Villagers claimed that the groundwater has been contaminated up to about 250 feet in the village.

Farmer Rajiv Chauhan said, "The lake is spreading cancer and jaundice here. About 500 people in the village are suffering from black jaundice and the lake is continuously increasing in size. Over a thousand bighas of farmers' land has already been submerged. We get drinking water from a place 3 km away."

According to the health department, around 2,100 Hepatitis C patients have emerged in the past one year, and most of these are from the Kairana region.

District Magistrate (Shamli), Jasjit Kaur, said, "A water treatment plant is being constructed at a cost of about Rs 38 crore under the Namami Gange scheme to dispose of the contaminated water of Maamour lake. We are preparing an action plan on an ATM-based RO water plant to provide pure drinking water to the villagers."