Expressing concern at the series of reports carried by Express Newsline, Gujarat Pollution Control Board member-secretary Jagdish Barot says, ``This (manner of effluent-disposal) has come to our knowledge only recently. Maybe the crime was low-key earlier''.

Now that the GPCB has woken up to the issue, it says it means to go all the way in curbing it. ``We have written to the Central and State Home Ministries, seeking coordination of all the agencies concerned. Concrete steps will be coming in about a month. We are also planning an educational campaign involving officials, social activists and agriculturists, which should materialise within a couple of weeks'', assures Barot, adding that they would seek public cooperation through newspaper advertisements.

Though the target of the campaign is clear -- the unscrupulous industrialist -- there does not seem to be any way to book him as yet. Barot, for one, cries off pin-pointing the guilty, asking for ``some more time''.

In fact, sources say, there is not a single arm empowered by the law that can effectively deal with the culprit. Each department that can play a role in the drama, including the police, claims to be understaffed. Other agencies realise the near impossibility of bringing the guilty to book.

For one, it is no crime for a effluent-laden tanker to be parked on the road. If the effluent has been off-loaded, there is nothing to link it with a particular tanker. It is only when a tanker is caught in the act that any action can be contemplated. And tanker-operators, no fools, make sure the act is committed under the cover of darkness, in a spot unfrequented by patrol cars.

Despite the odds, however, Deputy Inspector-General of the State Highway Police M O Khimani, Vadodara Rural Police Superintendent Shamsher Singh and National Highway Superintending Engineer M M Jivani promise to further intensify their vigil.

Admitting that he had been updated on the extent of damage, Chief Conservator of Forests (social forestry) Ashok Kumar told Express Newsline that he was going to take up the matter with his seniors and the Home ministry soon.

Some of his officials would be focusing solely on dumping of effluent, he hints, indicating that it was not a priority area so long.

But what about the guilty party? Executive secretary of the Nandesari Industries Association J Titus admits there are black sheep among industrialists, but insists, ``Elaborate measures are being initiated in that direction.'' Titus, however, does not explain the measures that are planned.

With each party admitting there is a problem and all promising ``stringent action'', it is now up to time to determine whether they meant what they said or were only making the politically correct sounds.