In a shocking example of just how far things can go wrong in rural India, villagers in Bhayeli, facing the menace of around 4,000 pigs -- which destroyed crop and attacked people -- decided enough was enough and set poison traps. Around 1,000 pigs died; but the story doesn't end there. Not knowing what to do with the carcasses, they burnt -- or half-burnt -- some, buried others and just left the rest to rot.

That was 10 days ago; till today, not a single senior official of the Vadodara District Panchayat is even aware of the problem. And it's a miracle that an epidemic hasn't already broken out. Experts say that gastroenteritisis the greatest and most immediate danger; they also say almost every rule regarding public health in the disposal of carcasses has been violated.(See box).

While District Development Officer (DDO) Anju Sharma was not available for comment, District Collector Anil Mukim said he would deploy resources with the support of the District Panchayat or, if necessary, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation to ensure that the carcasses were disposed of properly.

They won't have trouble locating the village -- just follow your nose. The first thing noticed was the absence of children on the roads; today, they play indoors. Then you see the reason why -- several carcasses lying scattered in the bushes and near village ponds, with dogs and vultures having a field day. There are no piles of corpses; it's just that at every corner, there's a carcass to greet you.

There were carcasses even near the village pond and the villagers have stopped washing clothes there. Several partially burnt pigs lay on the road leading toBhayeli village from Vasna Road; a few yards away, there were others that had been left unburnt. ``Go a short distance beyond this place and you'll find several pigs dumped in ditches and bushes'', says Raman Solanki, a villager.

The problem originated in the practice of pig-breeders in the city of releasing the animals in nearby villages for rearing purposes. When there's a demand for the meat, they simply go back and recover as many as they need. This time, however, the number of pigs went out of hand; and sure enough problems cropped up. Ashok Thakore and Vishram Shrimali were bitten and had to take injections. Thakore Patel, a farmer, says the loss of the farmers runs anywhere in five figures, annually, as the pigs destroyed vegetables, dangar and wheat.

That's when the villagers decided to strike back. The picture now becomes a little hazy, because no one wants to own up to the decision to poison the animals. Ask them who did it and pat comes the reply, ``Maybe, the sarpanch.'' While Sarpanch SmitaPatel was not available for comment, her husband Kiran and village talati Suresh Patel denied that the panchayat had any role in the matter, but said there was no other way of dealing with the pigs. The villagers had no choice, he feels. Asked whether the problem had been brought to the notice of higher-ups, he says,``It would not have made any difference.''