Even more frightening is the finding that gallbladder cancer cases along the river course are the second highest in the world and prostate cancer highest in the country.
The survey throws up more scary findings: Of every 10,000 people surveyed, 450 men and 1,000 women were gallbladder cancer patients.
Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar's Vaishali and rural Patna and the extensive tract between Murshidabad and South 24-Parganas in West Bengal are the hot zones.
In these parts, of every 1 lakh people surveyed, 20-25 were cancer patients. This is a national high. Relentless discharge of pollutants into the riverbed is responsible.
"This is the consequence of years of abuse. Over years, industries along the river have been releasing harmful effluents into the river.
The process of disposing of waste has been arbitrary and unscientific. The river and those living along its banks are paying a price for this indiscretion," Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute director Jaideep Biswas said.
The Kolkata-based cancer institute is an associate of the National Cancer Registry Programme.
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