NEWS

Fish once again swam to the surface in a desperate attempt to get    air, near Kudiaghat, as levels of dissolved oxygen in the particular   stretch of river plunged drastically sending officials of UP  Pollution Control Board (UPPCB) into a tizzy on July 20, 2009. Eye-witnesses said that scores of fish came to the surface of the river even as some locals were spotted throwing stones at the fishes killing them instantly. Top UPPCB sources said that a team of officials headed by chief environment officer (CEO), S N Ram was dispatched to the spot to survey the quality of water. Not surprisingly, the water had almost turned into a pool of dead water    body with the oxygen levels hovering around 2 mg/litre as against  the desired 4 mg/litre. Experts at the UPPCB said that the dissolved oxygen had plunged alarmingly deeper at the surface after organic matter settled down with bacteria consuming the existing dissolved
oxygen. This is the third time within a span of one month when aquatic life in the river has been affected. On earlier two occasions, it was the stretch of river near Chinhat that got affected. The board at the time had maintained that the plunging oxygen levels in the river was a result of the untreated discharge by some of the industries. Likewise some of the industries in and around Tewariganj were also found discharging untreated chemicals  into the river. Then, last week the board discovered that an  institute owned by BSP general secretary, Akhilesh Das was behind the aquatic causality in a stretch of river. The environment  department had thus decided to get a notice issued to the institute  asking it to install requisite mechanism to check pollution.