Novel on maladies affecting rural Punjab released

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 22

“The Cancer Train”, a novel by writer Nachhatar, was released at the Punjab Kala Bhavan in Sector 16 here today.

The 168-page novel is about the train in which patients from Punjab travel from Bathinda to Bikaner to get treatment at cancer hospitals.

The book release was attended by Narendra Kumar, chairman, Har-Anand Publications, and panellists Dr Japal Singh and Dr Praveen Sheron. Punjab Sahit Academy president Dr Sarabjit Kaur Sohal proposed the vote of thanks. Dr Rawail Singh moderated the programme.

“The Cancer Train” touches the maladies affecting rural Punjab and it seems that the solution to these crisis is beyond the power of the present dispensation, said the novelist.

It highlights an acute ecological crisis in Punjab as a result of excessive use of pesticides that have contaminated the soil, water and air.

A retired banker from Barnala, Nachhatar, is now settled in Delhi.

He has published six collections of short stories and an equal number of novels.

His novel “Slow Down” won the Sahitya Akademi Award that was based on the global financial disaster of 2008 and its fallout in India.

The novel, originally written in Punjabi, has been translated into English by Parvesh Sharma.

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