Basit Shah
Large number of small fish have been found dead in Manasbal lake, Ganderbal, causing significant damage to the Department of Fisheries and those involved in the business.
An official from the Fisheries Department told The Kashmiriyat that dropping down of water level to two and a half feet in the Manasbal Lake is the reason that the fish were dying.
He also said that the Manasbal Development Authority was constructing a park at Nani Nara, for which the water level was being lowered by opening the lake gate.
Pollution was another reason given by the officer for the death of the small fish. “The sewage from the houses around this lake gets mixed in the water of this lake, due to which this water is getting polluted and the fish are dying.”
Another official from the Fisheries Department blamed the Manasbal Development Authority for the deaths of fish and increasing pollution in the lake.
It is to be noted that a committee was set up by the former Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Saeed for the maintenance of this lake, the purpose of which was to enhance the beauty of this lake and to take care of it. However, now the opposite is happening. There was a time when the water of this lake was considered sweeter than other lakes of Kashmir, but now the situation has come to the death of the small fish of the lake.