But even more surprising than the Vadodara Municipal Corporation's cold shoulder to the city's leading residents' woes is its preference to ignore something it has been aware of virtually since the day it began. ``The problem begins when the VMC starts pumping at the sewage pumping station'', said Kanta Baria, a domestic help in the housing society. That is roughly around the peak hours, when the VMC simultaneously switches on its water supply and pumps up drainage. The sewage flows back on to the main road and inside houses.

Pushed to the wall, some residents of the 28-block society have dug channels to let the flow out again, while others have raised their drainage lines. While Vipin Mehta is only one of those who's raised the drainage chamber levels by spending almost Rs 3,000, Nishit Dand, a resident of 28 Dhanushya Society, said he had no alternative to creating a channel passing through his compound wall to allow the sewage to pass out.

``But even today, I face a problem when I'm washing clothes because the moment the water is released, the drainage backflows'', said Baria, who works at Dand's house.

At the Panchals', the ground-floor toilet is perpetually choked, even though it's never used. ``Nevertheless, the stink is unbearable'', says Laxmi Panchal.

When contacted, all that City Engineer B K Desai had to say was, ``The VMC is aware of the problem. The sewage overflows as the pressure is inadequate in the channel. The problem has cropped up ever since a gravity line was placed between Nizampura and Shastri Bridge before the monsoons''. Contradictions surface in the explanations as well; according to social worker Neela Shah, the Vadodara Municipal Corporation had told them the problem occurred because the drainage line was under-capacity.

Asked why it had not been repaired, Desai replied, ``Estimates are being worked out''. But there's not much hope for a permanent solution; Desai said he had asked the officers concerned not to operate the pumps while water was being supplied.

The cost-factor is something that has been intimated to the affected as well, said Shah, adding that if the VMC could not foot a huge bill, it could at least plan a short-term solution.

Though some people like Mehta have sought a way out by spending from their own pocket, Sucheta Mehta flatly refuses to do so. ``Why should we have to make alternate arrangements when it's the VMC's responsibility to provide us amenities?'', she asked.

The water problem is not restricted to Sama: in Roshni, Jaldhara and Tarika societies on Gotri Road, the residents received contaminated water for the third day in a row on Tuesday.

While there have been reports that some residents had fallen ill after drinking contaminated water, in-charge additional city engineer B S Trapasia said the Vadodara Municipal Corporation had detected a leak in two individual water connections and that the fault was being corrected.