Another instance of fish dying in a Bengaluru lake has been reported. Dead fish were found in Bengaluru’s Hebbal lake on Sunday morning. And it appears that they are likely to land up on your plates with officials remaining clueless about the cause of death.
After the initial shock, locals cashed in on the phenomenon, and the dead fish soon landed in markets in the area.
This isn’t an uncommon phenomenon in Bengaluru. Ulsoor lake reported two instances this year alone. On 7 March and later on 11 May, thousands of dead fish were found floating on the surface of Ulsoor lake and were later sold by locals for consumption.
Asked about how safe the fish are for consumption, Gopala Reddy K, Deputy Director of Fisheries, Bengaluru, made contradictory remarks. He first said that no one would buy the fish, but also maintained that the fish had been buried.
However, convener of Friends of Lakes Ram Prasad, who visited the area on Sunday afternoon, says he saw people selling fish from the lake.
On an average, there used to be 45 fish stalls in the area. But after this incident, a lot of locals were seen picking up the fish from the lake and later sold the fish on the road.Ram Prasad, Convener, Friends of Lakes
Asked if there was any health risks from consuming the fish, Reddy said it was safe and claimed there were no industrial effluents released into the lake.
But with authorities unable to agree on the cause of death, the confidence of the Fisheries department appears misplaced.
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Ram Prasad said that the sewage from MS Palya, Vidyaranyapura and Kodigehalli flows into the Hebbal lake. He added that instead of allotting money for the rejuvenation of the lakes, a real-time monitoring system should be put in place at Sewage Treatment Plants (STP) to check their functioning.
The STP on the Hebbal lake is run by a private company and Ram Prasad claims that on days when there are heavy rains, the plant only works partially.
“When it rains, the sewage is not concentrated as it is on normal days and so, the STPs only functions partially. The inflow of untreated sewage causes the oxygen level in the lake to drop, causing the fish to die,” he said. It had rained on Friday night.
Calling the Karnataka State Lake Development and Conservation Authority (KSLDCA) a “tooth-less body,” he said the body is responsible for looking into such issues, but has miserably failed.
Surface water and silt flowed into the lakes from two inlets following the rains. This resulted in low oxygen levels.Ajay Misra, CEO, KSLDCA
An Environmental Officer with the Karnataka State Pollution Board, who did not want to be named, claimed that the fish died from natural causes and that it was the first time a something like this was being reported in Hebbal.
As of Monday, the oxygen level in the lake was around 3 mg/l. The fish are most likely to have died due to the oil content on the road-side seeping into the lake due to recent rains and not because of low oxygen level. Only one species of fish – Tilapia/jilapi – were found dead, while none of the other species were affected.Environmental Officer with the Karnataka State Pollution Board
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