ITANAGAR, A large quantity of fish in Kameng river was found dead on both sides of the riverbank in East Kameng district on Friday morning. the state government is yet to send any team to investigate by technical staff from the capital, however the officer from the department has denied any outbreak of any disease.
When contacted, East Kameng district fishery development officer (DFDO) Hali Tajo said that we have also information of the mysterious death of fishes in East Kameng district. He denied any outbreak of any disease and neither have they been poisoned.
Testing of water samples and the carcasses of the fishes was done after lots of rumor in social media and otherwise, as per preliminary investigation the total dissolved solids (TDS) level of Kameng River is around 6800 mg/litre which is much higher than normal. This has resulted in less oxygen and due to TDS level of water is high and the dissolved oxygen level automatically drops down and the fish could not inhale properly and died. Tajo said over the phone from Seppa.
The poor turbidity level of Kameng River is also one of the reasons behind the death of fishes as the river is full of muddy content and the water is not at all clear. He said.
There may be landslides or if a reservoir breaks down at the upper ridges of the river but as of now we have no proper information. Tajo added.
Meanwhile Seppa MLA Tapuk Taku has appealed to the state government to immediately constitute a fact finding committee of experts to find out the specific reason behind the abrupt change in water color of Kameng River and fish floating dead in huge numbers in the river.
Taku said that matter is very concerning as there is no specific conclusion as to why the river has turned suddenly dark, thereby killing tons of aquatic life.
He said this situation never arose in many years in the Kameng River. If the situation continues for more than a couple of days, it will totally erase aquatic life.
He said the sudden change in the color of Kameng River may be due to a huge landslide in the upper belt of the district which needs to be verified.
“There may be many reasons for the situation that has been raised today. Therefore, the state government should immediately constitute a fact finding committee team to expedite the situation at the earliest,” he said.
He also appealed to the public of the district to refrain from consuming as well as selling the fish that has been bought from the river this morning. At the same time people should avoid venturing to the riverside without any reason,” he added.
When contacted, the Remote sensing, Joint Director L Tajo informed that he is in touch with the officers of fishery department of East Kameng and to get the proper information of the river position he has requested the ISRO, Hyderabad for saltine picture so that we can have a conclusion on the issue.
In the meantime the East Kameng district administration and capital complex district administration has issued advisory for the citizens to remain alert in view of the death of large quantities of fished in river Kameng in East Kameng on Friday.
Suspecting the fishes may not be safe for human consumption the East Kameng district administration has issued advisory and said that consumption of fished may be unsafe and
may cause risk to human life and the situation may further create chaos amongst the public.
teh administration has sk the citizens not to venture into the river for catching the fishes floating down which reason is yet to be ascertained, not to sell fishes in the market till further order, not to consume until it is safe for consumption.
The capital complex administration has also iseud advisory for the citizens, in an advisory the Capital Deputy Commissioner Talo Potom has said that It has been reported that huge quantity of dead and live fishes are floating In Kameng river and it has also suspected that those fishes may not be safe for human consumption
The Deputy Commissioner Talo Potomm has advised the citizens not to sell/consume fishes brought from East Kameng District, Seppa in the jurisdiction of Capital Complex until further orders.
Further, whoever consumes fishes in violation of this advisory/Order shall be at their own risk and the District Administration, Capital, Itanagar. shall not be responsible for any untoward incidents caused out of this current situation. The advisory said.
The Member Secretary (APMC SP, Capital and Market Welfare Associations/ Market Welfare Committees. Capital, Itanagar shall sensitize the merchants/ vendors in this regard. The DC Talo Potom added.
