DH News Service

Bangalore, Oct 30: In a tell-tale reminder of the extent of pollution in water bodies in the City, at least 25,000 fish died due to contamination in Siddapura lake.
 
The fish had died three days ago, but they surfaced only on Wednesday.

The residents were in for a rude shock on Wednesday morning as thousands of dead fish were seen floating in the lake.

Manjunath, who had obtained a lease for fishing in the lake, complained that the fish had died because acidic effluents from the sewage line of the adjoining BEML Layout had mixed with the lake water. He claimed his loss was nothing less than Rs 2 lakh. “There were 25,000 fish of various sizes. A majority of them weighed around 8 kg,” said Manjunath.

The residents of the area were infuriated by the death of the fish on such a large scale.  “If the level of pollution is so high in our area then we should check the state of ground water. It may also have got contaminated,” said Nataraj, a resident of Siddapura.

Meanwhile, a BBMP official said the Palike was not aware of the incident. The lake development authority (LDA) was also caught unawares by the fish death.

CEO of LDA, C S Vedant said he had no information about the incident. However, he assured that the matter would be looked into immediately.

Environmentalists believe that the dissolved oxygen level would have gone too low resulting in the fish kill. They also fear the mixing of sewage in the tank.

In the past, similar incidents had occurred in the Ulsoor lake, Sankey Tank and Vengaianakere where large-scale fish death had taken place.