In the early hours of the day, similar scenes are enacted many times over in the narrow bylanes of Bavamanpura, Moughalwada, Wadi, Wadi Motivorwad, Khatkiwad and Nalbandhwada, and even in the civic body's slaughter house. And long before the city wakes up, its underlying drainage system is packed with the remains of dead animals.

Today's story, however, does not deal with this age-old practice. It deals with the Vadodara Municipal Corporation's deliberate refusal to wake up to its ramifications.

When pinned down, Municipal Commissioner G R Aloria and Deputy Municipal Commissioner (General) I B Peerzada describe the situation as ``alarming''. Adds Peerzada, ``The problem is exacerbated when remainsof large animals like the buffalo (slaughter of which is banned, and therefore, not allowed in the VMC abattoir) are dumped into the drain.''

As happened at Bavamanpura, the day after dhuleti. Because of the high demand for meat, more then the usual number of animals had been slaughtered -- and more than the usual quantity of animal waste generated -- during the festival. Drainage lines in the entire locality became choked and sewage overflowed on to the streets.

``Pure ek din gutter ka ganda pani road par raha. Bahut bas mar rahi thi (The sewage stayed on the road for the whole day and stank the place up),'' says Abbas Patel (not his real name), a resident. ``People often rush to my house with samples of contaminated water,'' adds BJP councillor Nirmala Gandhi, adding that it often led to stomach upsets and other water-borne diseases.

While in-charge VMC Health Officer Dr Dhurandhar Pathak refuses to believe that simple contamination can trigger water-borne diseases -- ``Itdepends on the gravity of the contamination,'' he says -- VMC public analyst Subhashchandra Shah admits that they do come across traces of blood in water samples collected from Wadi. ``Though the blood content may be 0.1 per cent, it can cause water-borne diseases,'' he says.

Concurs Dr Geeta Joshi, head of the Preventive and Social Medicine department in the Baroda Medical College: ``The subject needs to be studied, but normal contamination does lead to gastroenteritis and other water-borne diseases.'' According to Dr Prabhatdev Bhojak, assistant director of the Animal Husbandry Department, fungal growth on carcasses can have a toxic effect on human beings if it comes in contact with drinking water.

Giving the instance of the dhuleti pile-up in Bavamanpura, a senior VMC officer admits on condition of anonymity, ``Had the waste reached the Gajrawadi sewage pumping station through one of the main drainage lines, a critical situation could have resulted.''

But, then, it would perhaps be unfair toexpect the VMC to create awareness of the dangers of dumping animal waste in the drains. After all, if it was aware of the dangers, it would have been the model for others. But, alleges, Muzammil Agrawala, who cleans and prepares meat for a living, ``Doosri jagase to dalte hain, par VMC ke katalkhane mein bhi jali nahin hain. Dhuletike dusre din kya hua tha sab jaante hain (Agreed that slaughterhouses dump carcasses, but even in the VMC's own abattoir, there is no net to prevent the remains from entering the sewage system).''

While it is difficult to state exactly how many butchers follow this practice, Market Inspector Dr D V Chaubal estimates it could be three times the 70-odd licensed to slaughter animals at the VMC abattoir. And if they are caught, they are let off with a fine of Rs 50.

The solution, according to Congress councillor Aziz Dangiwala, lies in constructing a second abattoir. ``Legalising and providing facilities for buffalo-slaughter is the only way out,'' he believes, whileAloria regrets that pressure from ``certain quarters'' -- read saffron extremists -- prevents the VMC from doing just that.

But what about something less long-term and more punitive? A fortnight ago, Peerzada had promised to raid the places concerned after Id. When contacted on his mobile -- the DyMC is on leave currently -- he has no answer why that still hasn't come about. ``It will be done when I resume on Monday,'' is all he has to say.