Suhail Rather

Bandipora, 25 Oct (KNS): The use of bleaching powder to kill trout fish in Nallah Arin in Bandipora area of North Kashmir’s district goes on unabated, and that too in the face of tall claims of the Fisheries department.

A local said that bleaching powder becomes very effective at this point of time when the water flow is slow and the water level is low. He said that bleaching powder causes deoxygenation in water and kills a large quantity of fish in the area where it is used.

Locals alleged that the fisheries department which is supposed to monitor the streams in deep slumber or silently oversees the wrongdoings. Fisheries department guards who are posted in the area are nowhere to be seen, locals alleged.

The use of bleaching powder is also cruel to the fish who die a slow painful death from lack of breathing oxygen.

During this process small fish also get killed and the use of bleaching powder kills entire population of fish in an area where the bleaching powder is used. For last several days, bleaching powder has been used by fish smugglers in different parts of Arin Nallah. The fisheries guards who are posted in the area are not at all seen, allege the locals. 

Trout is an exotic fish variety which was introduced in the mountain streams of the Valley by the British during the reign of Dogra Maharaja Pratap Singh in the late 18th and early 19th century.

Several locals alleged that the miscreants who poison the stream to catch trout and other fish manage to get bleaching powder from the Jal Shakti department (Public Health and Engineering Department). The bleaching power is not sold in the open market.

The powder is available in plenty at the PHE department which uses it for chlorination of water.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp ChannelThe use of the powder has heavily polluted the water, shrunk the fish population and other species living in the water,” said Yasir a resident.

Sources said that compounded by the lackadaisical approach of the Fisheries Department whose field staffers were unable to tackle it. Hundreds of kgs of fish were killed in Arin and Authwatoo nallah in Bandipora every year but nobody cared about this.

The experts opine that use of chemicals for killing fish caused extensive damage to the ecology and habitat of the trout fish in Arin and Authwattoo streams as the Department of Fisheries is acting as a mute spectator. The situation forces locals to conclude that the damage to the fish production is being done in active connivance with the officials.

The miscreants use different means to catch the fish in Nallah Arin at different locations. “Fishing nets, bleaching powder and different types of hooks are being used to catch the fishes” a resident living near the stream said.

A few months back unknown miscreants allegedly put some poisonous substance into a private fish farm resulting in the death of a huge number of fish causing huge financial losses to the owner and no case was lodged in the matter.

Assistant director Fisheries Bandipora said the department would investigate the matter, anyone found involved in this illegal practice will be dealt with strictly under the law,” he said.

Locals appealed to the district administration of Bandipora, the SSP Bandipora, and the Director of the Fisheries Department to take this matter seriously, or else the entire trout population would perish from the Nallahs of Bandipora. (KNS)