Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Feb 2: Over 14,000 trout fish were found dead today due to water poisoning of a stream in North Kashmir’s Kupwara district.
As per the Department of Fisheries at least 14,302 trout fish were found dead in the Katlery fish farm in Langate area of Kupwara district.
Authorities in the State Fisheries Department said the apparent cause of the death seems to be the poisoning of Mawar stream waters that feeds the fish farm.”Police have registered an FIR in the incident and water samples have been taken for laboratory examination to determine the chemical that could have caused the death of the fishes on such a large scale,” Mustafa Banday, an official of the Fisheries Department said, adding some naturally growing fish species in Mawar stream other than trout have also been killed.
The officials of Handwara police along with the officials of Fisheries Department and Public Health Engineering Department (PHE) reached the site where they saw thousands of dead fishes in the nalla from Nowgam to Langate. The officials upon checking the water found some chemicals in it. “Based on the complaint, an FIR 6/2018 under section 428 RPC in police station Qalamabad was registered against the unknown persons and started the further investigation,” a police official investigating the incident, said.
An official at the Fisheries Department said that by the orders of director fisheries Kashmir, a three member team in which joint director, joint director projects and additional director district Baramulla, will investigate the matter and they will file their report to director in next week.
The officials of the Public Health Engineering (PHE) division Handwara issued an advisory appealing the people not to use the tape water at least for next 24 hours. They also said that some of the lift stations were stopped, and they also sent several water tankers to affected areas.
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