Even as the state government has launched initiatives like Mission Kakatiya to restore water bodies, lakes and tanks, the pollution in the lakes in Telangana continues unabated. On Monday hundreds of fish were floating dead in the Potharaju Kunta lake in the state.
The lake, located in Annaram village, had nearly 70,000 fish, and most of them were found dead early morning on Monday, reportedly owing to untreated sewage being let into the waterbody, and also due to the municipal dump alongside the lake.
According to reports, the municipal authorities dumped the garbage including medical waste like syringe, medicines and vials of vaccines at the lake, going against their own principles.
Local residents told media that a day before the incident, an earthmover pushed the medical garbage pile into the lake.
Speaking to TNM, Ravi Kumar an officer from the Telangana State Pollution Control Board (TSPCB), Sangareddy said, “Preliminary investigations revealed that the fish died due to the untreated domestic water being let into the lake from a neighbouring apartment-Prakruthi Nivas, and also the municipality dumping the garbage alongside the lake.”
He further added, “There was no discharge of chemical effluents into the lake. However, we have collected the water samples for analysis. Once the report comes out, and determines the cause of the death of fish, we will penalize the apartment owner, the village Panchayat and also the municipal authorities.”
District Fisheries Officer, Sangareddy, B Sujatha was unavailable to comment on the issue.
According to reports, the fisheries department had recently released 20,000 fish into the lake.
Expressing shock at the incident, Vice President of Annaram Fishermen Cooperative Society (FCS), D Veeraswamy, said, “We were shocked when we went fishing in the morning. There were thousands of dead fish. The impact is likely to continue for a few more days, killing more fish and other organisms in the lake,” reported The New Indian Express.
Shockingly, this is the third such incident happening in the state within two months.
Recently, nearly 2 lakh fish were dead, after chemical effluents were released into the Gandigudem lake in Bollarum, Hyderabad by pharmaceutical companies. The fishermen suffered a loss of nearly Rs 2 crore.
Earlier in September, hundreds of fish were found dead in Pasumamula Lake in Abdullapurmet, Hyderabad incurring a loss of Rs 60 lakh to the fisheries society.