Dead fish in Yamuna’s Sonia Vihar stretch; minister says ‘dirty politics’

A video showing a large number of dead fish floating in the Yamuna near Delhi’s Sonia Vihar area on social media has triggered concerns over water pollution, even as the exact cause of the deaths remains unconfirmed.

The Delhi government, however, alleged that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) threw dead fish in the river to defame it.

Locals alleged that polluted water discharged from a leather tannery was responsible for the fish deaths, claiming that the problem recurs every year when water is released into the river from a spot near the Hathnikund Barrage.

“There is a tannery and the water released from there is polluted. The fish die because of that. There were several dead fish on Wednesday and also on Thursday. These fish have died because of the polluted water,” a local said.

Delhi Water Minister Parvesh Verma accused the AAP of staging the incident.

“Today, I am seeing dirty politics by AAP. They are buying dead fish from the market and putting them in the river and posting videos in an attempt to defame us,” Verma said.

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The incident comes less than a month after hundreds, possibly thousands, of dead fish were found along the Yamuna riverbank in north Delhi’s Burari.

Radhey Shyam Sharma, head of the Department of Environmental Studies at Delhi University, had then said that sudden mass deaths of fish could indicate a sharp increase in contaminants in the water or a toxic discharge.

Bhim Singh Rawat, associate coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), also flagged industrial pollution as a possible cause, pointing to untreated effluents entering the river through drains in Haryana and restricted environmental flows.

The exact cause and source of the fish deaths could only be established through an investigation and water-quality testing, experts said.

The latest incident comes against the backdrop of Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurating a cruise service on the Yamuna between Sonia Vihar and Jagatpur on Tuesday.

The service, developed to promote river-based tourism, covers a stretch of around 4-5 km, with each ride lasting approximately 40 minutes.