Undertaken after a gap of several years, the CPCB survey found that apart from heavy vehicular pollution -- about five to 10 times the permissible limit, according to the Gujarat Pollution Control Board -- the city's atmosphere is laden with industrial gases such as chlorine and ammonia.

According to CPCB chief S S Bala, the city was divided into six segments -- Subhanpura, Gotri, Kala Ghoda, Gorwa, Chhani and Sama -- for a two-month-long monitoring of the ambient air quality.

The implications are grave. Says V C Patel, president of the national body of the Indian Medical Association, ``Pollution directly affects human health. It calls for urgent intervention by environment monitoring agencies.''

Such gases, he says, hit the lungs, the respiratory system and the heart very badly, and trigger such diseases as asthma, bronchial ailments, allergies and fevers. ``The incidence of such diseases is double of what it was five years ago'', he warns.

Concurs SSG Hospital medical superintendent (in-charge) G N Shukla, ``The occurrence of these diseases, as well as cancer and sinus problems, has become quite common in the past couple of years. Atmospheric pollution is a major contributing factor.''

His colleagues corroborate the statement, maintaining that various departments, specially medicine, daily see at least a dozen patients -- against a couple in 1994 -- whose history includes exposure to pollution. K G Patel Children's Hospital officials also say they get at least a dozen patients of respiratory disorders every day.

Industrial health expert Atul Gupta and several other doctors, including Mayank Bhatt and Rajesh Trivedi, also say they see double the number of patients with pollution-related problems now than they did a couple of years ago.

The complaints originate in cases like Chhani villager Nilesh Patel's. ``It is like hell at times. Sometimes the stink is so intense we have to leave the village for an hour or so till the wind changes direction or the unknown industry stops its unknown operation'', he says.

Adds Gotri resident Madhvi Shah, ``Set aside water contamination, vehicular, air and noise pollution, what is more far more troublesome are the noxious fumes of industrial gases.''

If the outskirts are cursed by their proximity to the units, the walled city areas aren't much better off, despite their distance from the industrial district. ``It is very irritating at times. Since I have a couple of doctor friends, I know we are exposed to all sorts of lung/eye diseases because of suspended particle matter and industrial gases in the atmosphere'', says Alpesh Shah, a Raopura-based entrepreneur.