In Bajwa, Undera, Chhani, Dashrath, Padamala, Sakarda, Koyali, Nandesari, Karachia and almost 20 of their neighbours, the first effects of recklessly discharged effluent -- whether into rivers or along highways -- has been felt in the water and the sub-soil. In Dashrath alone, more than 10 wells have been abandoned since the quality of water deteriorated over the past few years. ``Why humans, even animals can't drink that water and survive'', says Ambalal Padhiyar of the village.

True, because industrial waste contains cadmium, flouride and cyanide, says Dr K K Shah, a general surgeon in Bajwa. ``Each of these chemicals can affect various parts of the body'', he says, adding that the effects could be seen in several villagers.

Dashrath is not alone in marking certain wells off-limits. Five to 10 wells have been similarly abandoned in each of the 28 villages in the belt, estimates Padhiyar.

In Chhani, water traders do brisk business. Two of the four gram panchayat tubewells have been declared off-limits, and the Fajalpur scheme, commissioned more than 20 years ago to provide drinking water to Chhani and some other villages -- following waste disposal in the Mahisagar and the Mini -- is unequal to the task.

``Only those who cannot afford to pay Rs 5 for 35 litres of water drink tubewell water'', says Chhani resident Kalidas Mali. ``Those who can use tubewell water only to wash clothes and utensils''.

While the Gujarat Pollution Control Board hasn't collected a single sample from the southern belt, it has been slightly more active here. But though samples show a high percentage of Total Dissolved Solids in the water, there has been no follow-up action whatsoever.

The sheer imperiousness of the bureaucracy may have something to do with this. According to N L Kansagra of the regional GPCB, action can be initiated against a polluting industry only if it is the only unit doing so in the area. Moreover, he says, the industrial waste and the TDS should have common elements.

If such clauses did not offer industries enough loopholes, Board officials say they also require comparative date from past years to initiate action. So, while officials wonder whether they have proof enough or not, farmers and villagers despair of ever undoing the damage pollution has caused. ``Crop yield has decreased significantly; even potatoes have failed'', says Padhiyar.

Incidentally, a survey conducted by M S University's Botany department in 1983 had calculated that industry had taken a 30 to 80 per cent toll on local agriculture. One can only guess how much the damage has multiplied in these 15 years, as there has been no survey since.

Soil degradation is a slow process, says noted geologist Suren Choksi. ``But as it is porous, chemicals can easily permeate soil. This process is aggravated with each year'', he says, adding that toxicity is harmful for humans and agriculture alike.

While agreeing industry has a place in the scheme of things, Choksi emphasises that `development' should not be initiated at the cost of villagers' health and well-being.

Neither seem to be topmost on the mind of industrialists who dump their chemical effluent along the no-man's-land of highways. This simple method of disposal takes the load off their hands, but irrevocably damages farmland. Another popular method of wishing away effluent is by dumping it in borewells.

Though culprits of both categories have been pulled up -- V V Modi who headed a High Court committee probing pollution in Nandesari, for one, is confident that no unit dumps waste in borewells now, after two industries were fined -- many more get away scot-free.

Babubhai Patel of the Nandesari Industries Association, for instance, admits that industries do dump waste along highway, adding that it is, however, difficult to catch them in the act.

Nilesh Patel of the Vadodara Gramya Pradushan Nivaran Samiti, which is fight against pollution in Bajwa, Dashrath and Channi, pleads for an assessment of the entire area, saying that samples of water it has collected from wells have shown TDS levels as high as 5,300 milligram/litre.