Salim Ali Lake under threat; MPCB sends water, fish samples for testing

Aurangabad, March 22:

The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) officials today held a joint inspection of the historic Dr Salim Ali Lake and the dead fishes in it this morning. As reported earlier, a large number of fishes were spotted lying dead on one corner of the lake on Sunday.

MPCB team was accompanied by AMC officials, including chief animal husbandry officer Dr B S Naikwade and deputy engineer Ashok Padme. Naikwade said, " After inspection, the MPCB officials sent samples of dead fishes for testing to the zoology department of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University (Bamu), while the water samples will be tested in MPCB laboratory. The study by the university will help in finding the cause of death and take further measures in this regard."

To get rid of complaints of pollution in the lake, the AMC had established a sewage treatment plant (STP) by spending Rs 20 crore a few years ago. The AMC officials claimed that the sewage water after treatment in STP is re-released in the lake. The lake faces pollution frequently. Five to seven years ago, the dead fishes were spotted in the lake. The same complaint was there during the last year. It is believed that the absence of oxygen in water required for the survival of the fishes would be causing deaths. Besides, the residents also grieved of suffering from bad odour spread in the vicinity due to dead fishes.

The city engineer, S D Panzade said, " We had removed all the dead fishes from the lake. The fishes will be disposed of properly by burying them in the soil."

Threat due to Jalparni

It may be noted that the life of plants and other herbal plants in the water body is once again pushed to danger due to a rise in water hyacinth. The then municipal commissioner Nipun Vinayak through AMC's garden section, had initiated the killing of the hyacinth. Its rise in the water body is considered to be dangerous, it is learnt.