Submerged under a sheet of tidal sea water, which gushed in after breaching an earthen embankment during last week's cyclone, are the fields of hundreds of farmers like Dhirubhai who live in half a dozen villages in this far corner of Ahmedabad district, bordering Bhavnagar.

As they face an uncertain future, it is not the time, effort and money required to drain the area that worries the farmers. Nor is it the possibility of loss of one or two crop. What is giving them sleepless nights is the time it will take to remove the salinity and restore fertility of the soil.

The last time sea water entered the area, it took the farmers 15 years to make the land cultivable. In fact, ``it was only about five years ago that we started getting regular crops'', says Dhirubhai, and laments, ``Now we face total ruin.''

The worst-hit villages, besides Mingalpur, are Balgarh, Bavalyari, Novagam, Jankhi and Mahadevpura, and the affected area is about 4,000 acres. Says Jadhavbhai, another farmer, ruefully, ``Our villages used to account for a little less than 30 per cent of the state's cotton production. Cotton from here was sent to godowns in Bhavnagar and Surendranagar''.

Director of Agriculture G.B. Lakhani believes that the fertility of the land could be restored by better land management. ``If the monsoon water is stored properly in the fields, then the fertility could be restored fast,'' he said. At the same time, Lakhani says they can be specific about the damage only after they get the report of a team they have sent to the area.

But the farmers have already started thinking of alternative means of survival. Jadhavbhai, who owns a tractor, says he will use it to carry passengers to Dholera on the Ahmedabad-Bhavnagar highway, ``as bus service here is almost non-existent.''

Jaisukhbhai of Novagam has no tractor; he worked as share-cropper. ``Now when the land is no longer cultivable, I will have to work as a labourer in Bhavnagar,'' he said.

All this while, no one from the district administration, nor any minister or official, has visited the area. ``We have been left at the mercy of the death,'' complains Jethabhai of Bangarh. Ahmedabad Additional Collector Manorama Bhagat was not even aware if something was being done for the villagers. ``I will have to check with the officials of the Dhanduka sub-division,'' she said.