GPCB notice to Ankleshwar NAA after polluted water kills fish

The Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) on Wednesday said it has issued a notice to the Notified Area Authority (NAA) of Ankleshwar in Bharuch district of south Gujarat following the death of thousands of fish in Amravati river due to contaminated water.

The GPCB also issued a notice to Narmada Clean Tech (NCT), a subsidiary of Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) formed under a PPP model to treat the industrial effluents, after polluted water entered agricultural land "due to breach in discharge pipeline".

A fact-finding team of the GPCB and the District Fisheries Department found that the fish died after industrial effluents from a pumping station in Ankleshwar GIDC mixed with the river water following heavy rains on November 7, the GPCB said in a media statement.

"The regional office of the GPCB, Ankleshwar issued a notice to the NAA, Ankleshwar in this regard and directed it to take immediate steps," it said.

The NCT was also slapped with a notice over "repeated breach in the pipeline" carrying effluent water that caused polluted water being discharged into the farmland, it said.

The pipeline is used to discharge effluents from industries located in Ankleshwar and Jhagadiya in Bharuch district into the sea after treating it at a plant.