Following the September 17 downpour, which left dirt and sickness in its wake, the situation has turned grim in at least 12 localities in Kalyan and five in Ulhasnagar.

In some low-lying localities like Ayodhya Nagar in Ulhasnangar, an eerie silence envelopes the streets. The children, who frolicked in the floodwaters, have now been laid low by the gastro epidemic. ``Most of them are sick with fever, diarrhoea and vommitting,'' says Shankar Prasad, a peanut vendor whose son Vivek (4) is also unwell. ``Those who are well are being kept indoors to prevent `the curse' from affecting them,'' he explains.

As sickness spreads, superstitious beliefs have been awakened among the frightened locals. Most residents here believe that the gastro epidemic is a hex cast by a childless couple ``who has put acurse'' on their children. The traditonal healer has been applying poultices on the children's bellies and Prasad's wife Mahadevi says if this fails, the baba has advised them to brand the children on the soles of their feet.

In the densely populated Khade-Gholivili area off Vithalwadi in Kalyan, residents of Sahyadri Park draw water from a well which was completely submerged by floodwaters last week. The well has been neither cleaned nor chlorinated, yet the locals are not unduly perturbed. Apparently, official apathy has also seeped into their own psyche. ``Anyway, the muddy water we occasionally receive in our taps also stinks,'' remarks Ramakant Yadav. ``From the day it got flooded, our water supply has all but dried up and the well has become our only refuge.''

Nestling in the lap of a vast low-lying area and hemmed in by chawls, the absence of drains here ensures that sewerage from the surrounding chawls and buildings accumulates around the sole watering hole in the vicinity. No wonder, every homein Shanti Niwas near Sahyadri Park has at least two gastro patients, most of them children. Even the pipes bringing water to the chawls and buildings - most of which are illegal - often pass through septic tanks! But the civic authorities have managed to convince residents that all is well. ``If there was any problem, why would the corporation agree to regularise our connections,'' asks a naive Prakash Jadhav, a resident of Bhoir Niwas.

Suman Narvekar, a harried housewife in neighbouring Kattemanivili, is a little more circumspect. Suman, who spends most of her time fetching drinking water from a hand pump two kilometres away, says she wants to take no chances, what with both her sons and husband ill. Still, like her neighbours, she does not boil the water before drinking. ``There is not even enough kerosene to douse our families in and set oursleves ablaze, and you want me to waste it on boiling water,'' she retorts.

Residents of Bhawani Nagar in Kalyan (W) are equally perturbed about the children. ``Weare worried for the little ones because most of those affected are very young,'' says Satish Waychal, a shakha up-pramukh, frowning in disbelief at the civic corporation's neglect of disease control. ``The first term exams are just around the corner,'' he explains, indicating his own daughter who is also very ill.

Explaining the local administration's ostritch-like stance towards the epidemic, private practitioners in both Ulhasnangar and Kalyan say most people shun government medical centres. ``We have been either treating them ourselves or referring them to specialised private hospitals,'' says Dr M Kasale from Kalyan (East). ``Never mind treatment, what about preventive measures,'' he asks, referring to the the local administration, which admits that there are isolated cases of gastro but no cluster cases. Pegging the number of cases in both townships at several hundred, Kasale says, ``A clearer picture will emerge only if the civic authorities undertake a house-to-house survey.'' The medical healthofficer of the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation, is meanwhile content to mouth the usual official line: ``The situation is under control and I don't see any need for panic,'' says Dr M D Kulkarni.