When warts, lesions and sores began to appear on Manatosh Biswas' skin back in 2011, he consulted a doctor who advised him to undergo a few tests.

Biswas, a resident of Madhusudankati village in West Bengal's densely-populated North 24 Parganas district adjoining Kolkata, did as the local physician advised.

The test results confirmed that he was suffering from arsenicosis, a condition that manifests in humans exposed to the notoriously toxic heavy metal arsenic.

For 15 years, Biswas lived with Bowen's disease, a precancerous condition that is a consequence of consuming groundwater with a heavy presence of arsenic.

Since 1983, when arsenic contamination of groundwater sources was officially confirmed in West Bengal, the situation has remained unaddressed with reports suggesting that the problem may have actually worsened.

This is a result of inadequate coordination between the central and state governments which paid little attention to fix the crisis.