What has also become apparent ever since The Indian Express broke the story last week, is that the authorities concerned -- including the District Panchayat, the Collectorate and the Vadodara Municipal Corporation -- have not given the issue the importance it deserves.

And the problem is far from over. As District Development Officer Anju Sharma admitted to Express Newsline on Sunday, ``pig breeding is indeed a menace, which is very difficult to tackle.'' She explains she has a vast area to cover, and that many of the 32 villages bordering the city have pig menace.

When told that the panchayat had done very little about it, the DDO asserted that breeding of the animals was taking place within Vadodara municipal limits, which the VMC should handle. Asked about a permanent solution, she said it lay in the city; the district panchayat cannot prevent pigs from being let loose in the villages, because they don't have punitive powers to do so.

Deputy Municipal Commissioner I B Peerzada disputed the theory that the corporation had not done anything, but admitted that concerted efforts were required. He agreed that the problem could be solved if breeding was checked; asked why it was not being done, Peerzada explained, ``it is not as easy as it appears since, unlike stray dogs, pigs have owners. And tackling them you constantly require the police with you.'' So is it impossible? ``No, it is not impossible. We will be working out a plan soon''.

In Bhayeli and Raipur, meanwhile, a majority of the dead pigs have been buried in deep pits on roadsides of the two villages and carcasses of others covered with soil in order to prevent the spread of any disease.

Residents of the two villages told Express Newsline on Sunday that a group of bearded and turbanned men had released more pigs in the villages during the last two days and took away some grown male pigs.

A resident of Ambedkar Nagar in Bhayeli village said that a Sikh family, recently settled in their village, looked after the pigs. They used a steel goods manufacturing business as a cover for the pig-breeding, he said. Till recently, he said, the Sikh youth claimed that pigs belonged to him, but he gave up the ownership claims after the mass poisoning.

The Sikh youth was not available at his residence on Sunday.

Raipura village sarpanch Ambalal Parmar said unclaimed pigs still roamed freely in his village and were destroying crops. Asked what steps he had taken to check the menace, he said that he had yet not contacted the taluka and district authorities in this connection but met the pig breeders when they had come to the village fortnight ago and asked them to do something.