KMDA to investigate death of fishes at Rabindra Sarobar

Kolkata: Morning walkers at Rabindra Sarobar on Monday cried foul after some dead fish were spotted floating in a waterbody (Puddapukur) situated within the lake.

Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), the custodian of the 72-acre-wide waterbody has already started lifting off the algae that covered Puddapukur which may have contributed to the death.

“We will undertake a field visit along with experts on Tuesday. We have a sub-committee with an expert in fisheries. A probe will be conducted to ascertain the exact cause of the death,” a KMDA official said. According to the official, prima facie it appeared the algae led to the decrease in dissolved oxygen in the water and blocked sunlight. This might have led to deaths of four to five fish. Two years back, a good number of fish died at Puddapukur. Most were grass carp. This variety of fish feeds on algae and keeps its proliferation in check. “We have decided to release some grass carp once we clear the algae covering,” said the official. Environmentalist SM Ghosh, a regular morning walker at the Sarobar, said that several people spent time around Puddapukur on Sunday afternoon. On Monday, the area in and around the waterbody got polluted with paper plates, food packets etc which were dumped there. “There was a fountain in the Puddapukur area which has been defunct for some time now. It used to contribute to an increase in the dissolved oxygen level of the water,” Ghosh said.

The KMDA in June had resorted to an extensive quicklime application strategy to purify the lake and enhance its aquatic ecosystem. It has plans to repeat the exercise in Puddapukur after due consultation with experts.