Thousands of fishes found dead in UP, probe ordered

Thousands of fishes were found floating dead on the banks of the Ganga river in Uttar Pradesh's Kannauj district following which a probe has been ordered, officials said on Monday.

District Magistrate of Kannauj, Ravindra Kumar while confirming the death of the fishes, both big and small, informed IANS that the report by wildlife experts was likely to be submitted within a week.

Kumar added that he had visited the site with a team of experts from the National Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun and the UP Pollution Control Board (UPPCB).

"The samples of the dead fishes and that of the sluggish water have been taken by teams and we will get to know the exact reason by the weekend," he said.

Prima facie, he added, that it was suspected that the effluents from the industrial units in Shahjahanpur were sending some toxic material downstream, leading to poisoning of the water habitat in the Ganga.

The official also pointed out that the water which was generally muddy had overnight changed to pitch black, leading to strong suspicion of some industrial waste being dumped into the river. He, however, categorically denied that this could be waste emanating from industries in Kannauj itself.

The dead fishes were found by pilgrims and locals at the Mehandighat, a popular ghat where locals come to bathe regularly.

Kannauj is world famous for its special 'Itra' (oil-based perfumes). It is the parliamentary constituency of Dimple Yadav, wife of former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

--IANS

md/and/bg