Hyderabad: About 4 lakh fish have been found dead over three days including Saturday at the 600-acre Lakshminarayana Cheruvu in Edulabad outside the Outer Ring Road.
The mammoth fish kill was said to have been caused by toxic leachate from the Jawaharnagar dump yard, which is about 20 km upstream from the Lakshminarayana Cheruvu. The fish kill was first noticed on Diwali, October 19.
There are five lakes between the dump yard and Lakshminarayana Cheruvu, and complaints had been lodged regarding leachate pollution.
“The leachate flows through Dammaiguda, Rampally, Ghatkesar and then into the Edulabad lake,” said Mr E. Balaiah, Medchal district fisheries officer.
“There was an overflow from the leachate into the downstream lakes during the heavy rains. Locals from Karmikanagar and Haridaspally added to it by cutting the bund to release water and prevent overflow to save their land. This led to the leachate overflowing into downstream lakes,” said Mr Koteshwara M., superintendent engineer for solid waste management with the GHMC.
This fish kill, coming on top of the tragedy at Kazhipally, affects about 300 fishermen. “Over five varieties of fish like Katla, Rohu, Pomphret, Mirigala and Pilapia have perished,” said Mr P. Ballaiah, president of the lake’s fishermen cooperative society.
The loss has been put at Rs 40 lakh; lakhs of fish seeds were released into the lake — a traditional fishing site — on September 22.
The fishermen have lodged a complaint with the fisheries department and the commissioner of fisheries. “This was a disaster in making as all pollutants of the city are flowing into our lake. Last year also fish had died, but this year the loss is huge,” said Mr P. Krishna, secretary of the cooperative society.
Dammaiguda sarpanch Anuradha Yadagiri Goud and those of other areas downstream have been protesting vehemently against the leachate flowing into their lakes. “The dump yard has left our land, the lake, the villages toxic. We are tired of raising our voice,” she said after the fish kill.
Leachate is the toxic water released from wet garbage. This water pollutes the ground water and enters the water bodies.
