With the water levels falling further in Kolleru Lake, fish mortality continued unabated in the largest freshwater lake, located on the borders of Krishna and West Godavari districts on Friday.
The forest and fisheries department officials said that fish was dying owing to the adverse climatic conditions and high temperature. Officials are worrying over perishing of fish occurring for the past four days in the lake at Kolleru Bird Sanctuary at Atapaka village.
With the news of the perishing of fish spreading like a wild fire, villagers including women and children from Janpeta, Komati Lanka, Bhairavapalem, Atapaka, Nattagullapadu and other Kolleru bed villages of Krishna and West Godavari districts began visiting the lake to catch the remaining fish. A good number of people were seen carrying fish weighing about ten to fifteen kilos as they came close to the bund owing to lack of oxygen content. The forest and the police jointly arranged security on the bund to prevent the villagers from entering into the pond. About 20 forest guards and the police under the supervision of Forest Range Officer V. Ratna Kumar, Deputy Range Officer K. Durga Ram Prasad and Kaikaluru SI K. Ashok Kumar were deployed near the bund. The forest authorities lodged a complaint with Kaikaluru police on Friday, over the illegal entry of locals into the bird sanctuary for fishing. Four pickets were arranged and patrolling was intensified along the bund. Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Durga Ram Prasad said that samples of the dead fish and water were sent to Government Fish and Prawn Disease Diagnostic Centre, at Kaikaluru for testing.
