Thousands of fishes found dead in UP, probe ordered
Lucknow, May 14: Thousands of fishes were found floating dead on the banks of the Ganga river in Uttar Pradesh's Kannauj district following which a probe has been ordered, officials said on Monday.
District Magistrate of Kannauj, Ravindra Kumar while confirming the death of the fishes, both big and small, informed IANS that the report by wildlife experts was likely to be submitted within a week.
Kumar added that he had visited the site with a team of experts from the National Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun and the UP Pollution Control Board (UPPCB).
"The samples of the dead fishes and that of the sluggish water have been taken by teams and we will get to know the exact reason by the weekend," he said.
Prima facie, he added, that it was suspected that the effluents from the industrial units in Shahjahanpur were sending some toxic material downstream, leading to poisoning of the water habitat in the Ganga.
The official also pointed out that the water which was generally muddy had overnight changed to pitch black, leading to strong suspicion of some industrial waste being dumped into the river. He, however, categorically denied that this could be waste emanating from industries in Kannauj itself.
The dead fishes were found by pilgrims and locals at the Mehandighat, a popular ghat where locals come to bathe regularly.
Kannauj is world famous for its special 'Itra' (oil-based perfumes). It is the parliamentary constituency of Dimple Yadav, wife of former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
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Delhi wakes up to cloudy Thursday with light rain, minimum temp at 17.6 deg C
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi woke up to a cloudy Thursday morning, with parts of the city receiving up to 12.5 mm of rainfall, while the minimum temperature stood at 17.6 degrees Celsius, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
The IMD stated that Safdarjung and Lodhi Road recorded 8.2 mm of rainfall each, while the Ridge station received 8.6 mm and Palam recorded 6.2 mm.
Ayanagar recorded 7.2 mm of rainfall, and Pitampura recorded 5.5 mm.
Additionally, Mayur Vihar recorded 3 mm of rainfall, while Janakpuri received 12.5 mm from 8.30 am on Wednesday till 8.30 am on Thursday.
The weather office noted that the minimum temperature was recorded at 17.6 degrees Celsius, which is 1.1 notches above the seasonal average, while the maximum temperature is expected to settle around 29 degrees Celsius.
According to the IMD, Delhi is under a yellow alert for very light to light rainfall, thunderstorms accompanied by lightning, and gusty winds with speeds of 30 to 40 kilometres per hour.
The AQI stood in the 'moderate' category at 9 am, with an Air Quality Index (AQI) reading of 153, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data showed.
According to the CPCB, an AQI between zero and 50 is considered 'good', 51 to 100 'satisfactory', 101 to 200 'moderate', 201 to 300 'poor', 301 to 400 'very poor', and 401 to 500 'severe'.
