Calcutta, Feb. 25 :    Calcutta, Feb. 25:  The Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) has decided to enforce a ban on rearing pigs in its sweepers' colonies and in compounds of medical college hospitals, in the wake of the killer contagion in Siliguri. The CMC Act does not permit foraging of cows, pigs and dogs on city roads. 'It will be a joint drive of CMC's conservancy and health department,' said mayor Subrata Mukherjee. 'It is unthinkable that pigs roam freely on the roads in an A-1 city like Calcutta,' commented member, mayor-in-council (health), Javed Ahmed Khan on Sunday. The CMC has decided to seek police help for the drive. Khan said pigs harbour germs and act as vectors of killer diseases. As the pathogen, which is playing havoc in Siliguri, is yet to be identified, the city health department should take steps to eliminate potential vectors from the city area, he said. Khan held talks with conservancy chief Mala Roy, as sweepers' settlements of the CMC and medical college hospitals in the city are breeding grounds of pigs. Earlier operations undertaken by the conservancy department to eradicate pigs from the Hogg Market area were frustrated as CMC conservancy workers refused to cooperate. If they refuse this time too, CMC will hire experts from the Sunderbans to catch them, Roy said. Pigs forage in Free School Street and the fish and vegetable sections of New Market. A good number of them are reared in the compounds of Medical College Hospital, SSKM Hospital, NRS Hospital, R.G. Kar Hospital and in the CMC's sweepers' colonies on Cossipore Road, Judges Court Road, Hazra Road and D.C.Dey Road. According to assistant director (conservancy) Swapan Mahapatra, there are several thousand pigs in the city. In June 1998, he said, the CMC rounded up more than 150 pigs from the area and sent them to the pig pound of the slaughter house at Suormari, on Govinda Khatik Road. Mahapatra said catching pigs is a tough job: It requires both strength and skill. Moreover, pigs became aggressive when chased and can bite. Then, anti-rabies shots are a must. No less aggressive are their keepers, because pigs mean money. Rearing pigs is the traditional business of the Khatiks, who jointly run the piggeries near conservancy staff quarters. A full-grown pig weighs more than 120 kg and yields 100 kg of pork. Since pork sells for Rs 70 a kg, a mazdoor with a herd of 50 pigs can boast of an asset of Rs 2.5 lakh.