Patna, (Bihar Times): The death of a large number of fish along the stretch of river Ganga, close to 50-km long Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary in Bhagalpur district of Bihar, is causing concern among authorities and environmentalists.

According to forest officials the death of so many fish may pose a serious threat to the endangered dolphin in river Ganga. A decade ago the government had set up the Sanctuary in Bhagalpur.

However, Abhay Kumar, in-charge of the Sanctuary, said there was no threat to the dolphins, locally called sons of the Ganga, but pollution and rampant fishing have threatened their existence.

The Bhagalpur district magistrate, Bipin Kumar, while talking to a news agency confirmed that fish have died along a stretch of river Ganga. However, he does not know what had caused their deaths. Only an inquiry will help ascertain the exact cause of deaths.

The district administration has urged people not to consume these dead fish.

Industrial effluents, untreated sewage, rotten carcasses etc find their way into the Ganga, right from Himalayas to the Bay of Bengal. They adversely affected dolphins’ life. According to an estimate there are 1,500 dolphins in India––half of them in Ganga in Bihar. The numbers have dropped considerably over the past decades. In the 1980s, the Gangetic delta zone alone had around 3,500  dolphins.

Dolphins were categorised as an endangered species in 1996 by the World Conservation Union, a forum of conservationists, NGOs and government agencies.

The police are reported to have received complaints from local people that poison might have been sprinkled into the  river. Forest department collected water samples from the river as well as some dead fishes for laboratory tests.

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