Dept of Environment orders probe into fish deaths near Baddi

The Department of Environment has set up a high-level team to investigate the death of a large number of fish and other aquatic animals in the 20-km stretch from Mallpur panchayat...

The Department of Environment has set up a high-level team to investigate the death of a large number of fish and other aquatic animals in the 20-km stretch from Mallpur panchayat to Beed Palasi village of Nalagarh sub-division in Solan district. Environmentalists believe the incident could have been caused by the release of toxic effluents by some industrial units in Baddi late last week.

In the past seven years, there have been more than 10 incidents involving large-scale destruction of aquatic life in the river. It was on September 16, 2000, that some villagers had first noticed dead fish floating on the surface of the Sarsa river.

This time, heaps of dead fish were first spotted near Chunadi village on Friday morning. Hours later, villagers of Jagtkhana also reported crows feeding on fish dying on the banks of the Sarsa village.

At least half-a-dozen drains carrying waste from industries in Baddi end up in the Sarsa. Although this water is supposedly treated by the industries, it8217;s been found that some units without treatment plants also dump their waste into these drains.

Executive Engineer Chetan Joshi, when contacted, denied that fish had died in large numbers. He, however, said water samples had been sent for analysis following complaints from villagers. 8220;However, preliminary investigations suggest that the fish could have died at one or two places in the river due to a sudden increase in the level of silt.8221;

But, Department of Fisheries assistant director Susheel Kumar said an excessive increase in silt level would have only caused a gradual death of aquatic life. 8220;Besides the Mahasheer fish is used to living in water choked with silt,8221; he said.

Members of Him Parivesh, an NGO, allege that certain industries discharge their untreated effluent on the sly whenever it rains heavily. The area has witnessed heavy downpour during the past 48 hours. Him Parivesh president Jagjeet Singh said he would approach the Government against the repeated destruction of aquatic life in the Sarsa. 8220;The Government must get to the root of the problem so that the guilty are punished,8221; he said.

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Doon MLA Lajja Ram had taken up this issue of untreated effluents with the Chief Minister as well as on the floor of House after some buffaloes died after consuming Sarsa water near Baddi a few years ago. However, no action was taken against the erring units.

It is learnt that Principal Secretary J P Negi has now asked a high-level team to submit a report within two days after collecting samples of both the river water and the dead fish.