But the doomsday rumours, that have seen workers desert the Alang ship-breaking yard by the droves, are yet to have an impact in Surat. Workers are leaving the city, but the current recession in the textile industry and the wedding season are said to have a lot to do with it.

General secretary of Dakshin Gujarat Kamdar Sangh Urmila Rana, however, claims the doomsday rumours are driving workers away from Khatodara, Ambanagar and Pandesara every day. ``They are not ready to see reason when told that the rumours have no scientific backing'', she says.

``Agar rail aaya to kya aap hame bachane aayega'' is their general defence when they're told nothing will happen. ``The authorities had said the same thing (about floods in the Tapi in September last year) but we did face floods, didn't we?'' Rana quotes the workers as saying.

The faded pamphlets of the astrological `predictions' of a pralay on May 8 were circulated in the textile markets more than a month ago. Those who did keep them, however, did so more out of amusement than anything else.The same spirit seems to dominate the city. ``Nobody is paying attention to the rumours'', says a leader of the Gujarat Audyogik Kamdar Sangh. ``If they do so, we'll prevent them.''

``Not more than five per cent of the workers are leaving'', adds Kamalvijay Tulsian, a processor with a unit in Pandesara, while Jitubhai Vakharia of Narayan Processors says that workers from nearby areas could, at most, go away a day in advance and come back on May 9. DCP K K Oza, too, says he has heard no reports of exodus from Kapodra, Udhna, Katargam and Limbayat, among the other labour-dominated areas.

In the city's memory, the emiogration triggered by the 1994 Ukai dam rumours -- fanned to a large extent by local newspapers -- was the largest, unparalleled even by the plague-scare exodus. The only ones to benefit then were the transporters and vehicle-owners, who made a killing by demanding -- and getting -- exorbitant fares out of the city.

The locals dealt with the Ukai threat simply by arming themselves with rubber tubes!