Western Ghats Task Force Chairperson Ananth Hegde Ashisara said on Thursday that radiation from the Kaiga nuclear plant in Uttara Kannada district was causing cancer among residents of nearby villages.

He told a press conference that members of the Task Force had visited villages in a radius of 15 km of the plant and interacted with the residents. It is true that the number of cancer patients in areas close to the plant had increased in the recent past, as borne out by medical tests, he said.