Panel to assess death of fish in Rewalsar Lake

Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Mandi, April 21

Taking cognisance of the death of thousands of fish in the Rewalsar Lake in Mandi district, the state government has constituted a committee to examine the effects of pollution on the natural aquifer and assess the chances of possible contamination of water.

The committee will be headed by Divisional Forest Officer, Mandi, while Environment Engineer, HP State Pollution Control Board, Bilaspur, Assistant Director, Fisheries, Mandi, will be the members. Kamraja Kaisth, Principal Scientific Officer, State Council for Science, Technology and Environment, will be its member secretary.

Tarun Kapoor, Additional Chief Secretary, Environment, Science and Technology, said the committee would assess the entire situation in detail to know about the reasons for fish mortality and suggest remedial measures. It would submit its report to the government within seven days, he added.

Meanwhile, people’s blind faith and official apathy is also proving costly for the existence of fish.

Locals said dying of fish was not new in the lake during summers and rainy season every year.

However, they added that death of fish on such a large scale was a cause of concern. Development Action Group, an NGO, which was constituted in 2014 to conserve the lake, constantly raised the issue with the district administration, but to no avail.

Deputy Director, Fisheries Department, Mandi, Khem Singh Thakur, said the lake was not under the jurisdiction of the Fisheries Department. Labh Singh, president of the Municipal Council, Rewalsar, said they occasionally cleaned the lake every year.

An FIR has also been registered under Section 429 of the IPC against unknown person at the Balh police station in this regard. Today also fish died and the district administrations as well as the locals were busy shifting fish to another place.

District Health Officer Joginder Thakur said the health authority would take samples of the water for lab tasting and, thereafter, issue advisory. He added that the people visiting in the area were told to avoid drinking the lake water for the next few days because of health issues.