At least 10,000 trees lining 4,700 km of roads in and around Vadodara and surrounding districts have reportedly been completely destroyed or partially damaged by highly acidic industrial effluents off-loaded by chemical industries over the past year.

Evidence is not far to seek: drive down National Highway 8 and major district roads in Vadodara, Bharuch (the worst-affected areas), Panchmahals and around Vasad, Jambusar, Fazalpur, Karjan, Jambuva, Varnama, Por, Waghodia and Savli and pick out the trees eaten away by chemicals. Or, for an easier job, count the trees -- planted by the Social Forestry wing of the forest department under its afforestation programme -- that are still the way nature meant them to be.

Though the destruction is there for all to see, it is yet unclear who is answerable for it. None of the parties involved -- the Gujarat Pollution Control Board, the Vadodara rural and the State highway police, the National Highway Authority, the forest department and the local industries -- own up responsibility for it, and in fact, pass the buck on to another authority.

While tanker operators told Express Newsline on condition of anonymity that they only obeyed industrialists' instructions, Nandesari Association president Mohan Nair categorically denied that any NIA member dumped their effluent along highways.

Confirmation from official agencies, however, will be sometime in coming. While Vadodara Forest Division Deputy Conservator G S Pandey admitted there has been ``heavy damage'', his department, he said, could not check the menace by itself. And all that GPCB regional officer N L Kansagra and NH8 superintending engineer M M Jivani will say is that they have reported the matter to their superiors since they don't have the forces necessary to monitor illegal dumping.

Sources told Express Newsline that the forest department had sent a report in this regard to the chief conservator of forests (social forestry wing) on Saturday. Though the report mentioned damage -- complete or partial -- to at least 10,000 trees, the number could be much higher, they added.

Among the trees affected by effluent composed of nitric, sulphuric and hydrochloric acids are peltaforum, khijra, baval, kashid, neem, shisham and gulmohar planted by the Social Forestry wing at least a decade ago. The acids attack the trees in two ways: through the soil, via which it seeps into the roots and eventually spreads throughout its trunk, branches and leaves, and through air in a gaseous form. Either way, the fallout is the same: destruction of the physiology of the plant.

Not just trees; lethal chemicals dumped along highways by cost-cutting industrialists in league with tanker operators have irreparably damaged grass, land and roads as well. (Express Newsline carried a detailed report on the damage to NH8 on June 8.)

Admitting that he was yet to take complete stock of the situation, Chief Conservator of Forests Ashok Kumar, however, said if the need arose, he would take up the issue with the heads of all departments involved.

Deputy Inspector General of the State Highway police M O Khimani, however, said he was alert to the problem. ``As recently as Saturday, I asked my mobile units to be extra cautious about dumping along the roads'', he added.

Pointing out that a couple of tanker drivers had been arrested for dumping effluent in Varnama, Rural Police Superintendent Shamsher Singh said his teams, alongwith villagers and farmers were keeping a strict look-out for such activity. Small steps indeed, but in them lie the germ of Vadodara's future.