New Delhi, Nov 13 A day after a video purportedly showing a large number of dead fish floating in the Yamuna near Sonia Vihar surfaced on social media, Delhi ministers accused the AAP of staging the incident, while the opposition party junked the allegations, questioning how thousands of dead fish could have been dumped into the river without anyone noticing.
Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Friday accused AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal and his associates of orchestrating the incident, alleging that party workers had brought dead fish from the market and dumped them in the river before recording the videos in question.
In a post on X, Sirsa criticised the alleged act and said it was particularly reprehensible ahead of Chhath puja, when devotees, including women, would visit the riverbanks. He also cited the government’s efforts to clean the Yamuna.
Delhi Water Minister Parvesh Verma had on Thursday made similar allegations, accusing the AAP of staging the incident to create a controversy and defame the government.
Rejecting the claims, Delhi AAP chief Saurabh Bharadwaj on Friday demanded an inquiry into the alleged fish deaths, alleging that water samples are yet to be collected to ascertain the cause of the incident.
He also questioned how thousands of dead fish could have been dumped into the river without the authorities noticing, and asked why no CCTV footage of the alleged act had been produced.
Addressing a press conference here, Bharadwaj alleged that pollution levels in the river have increased, and claimed that a water treatment plant was shut down around the same time as the fish deaths.
He pointed to the Delhi Jal Board’s reported decision to curtail water supply in some areas due to contamination.
He also raised questions over the Delhi government’s cruise service in the river, alleging that chemicals were sprinkled into the water, and demanded an investigation into whether these additives could be linked to the fish deaths.
Bharadwaj said during a meeting with an official of the flood and irrigation department, he was told that the issue of dead fish in Yamuna water did not fall under the department’s purview.
He further claimed that the official said he had not seen anyone dumping dead fish into the river.
“I want to ask Parvesh Verma, who has told him that AAP leaders dumped dead fish into the Yamuna?” Bharadwaj said.
He said the government should focus on combating Yamuna pollution instead of making allegations against the opposition.
The AAP also raised questions over the creation of an artificial water body along the Yamuna at Vasudev Ghat ahead of Chhath puja. Bharadwaj alleged that an underground pipeline has been laid to fill the artificial pool with drinking water.
Sharing a video on social media, he claimed excavation work was undertaken to draw drinking water from a main pipeline, and alleged that the area was subsequently covered with artificial grass.
He questioned the need to divert drinking water for Chhath purposes if the government had already cleaned the Yamuna.
Senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia also questioned the arrangement, alleging that the government is creating an artificial water body along the river, exposing its claims of improved Yamuna water quality.
The AAP leaders cited a similar arrangement last year, which they had criticised as an attempt to create a false impression about the condition of the river.
The exact cause of the latest fish deaths remains unconfirmed. Locals have alleged that polluted effluents discharged from a leather tannery near the Hathnikund Barrage were responsible for the incident.
“There is a tannery, and the discharges from there are polluted. There were several dead fish on Wednesday and also on Thursday. The fish died because of the polluted water,” a local said on Thursday.
Residents also claimed that the problem recurs every year when pollutants are discharged into the river from an industrial unit located in the area.
The incident comes less than a month after hundreds, possibly thousands, of dead fish were found along the Yamuna bank in north Delhi’s Burari.
It also comes days after Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated a cruise service between Sonia Vihar and Jagatpur.
The Congress too weighed in on the Yamuna pollution row, with a party delegation led by its Delhi chief Devender Yadav visiting the Yamuna on Friday.
During a visit to Yamuna banks in Soorghat, near north Delhi’s Wazirabad, and northeast Delhi’s Sonia Vihar, Yadav alleged that untreated water from the Najafgarh drain — carrying human and animal waste — was flowing into the Yamuna, and accused the BJP government of failing to ensure clean water for devotees ahead of Chhath puja.
Yadav claimed the government is asking people to take a ‘holy’ dip in a polluted Yamuna, putting their health at risk and hurting religious sentiments, showing reporters a bottle of water apparently drawn from the river.
The Delhi Congress chief challenged BJP MP Manoj Tiwari, who had recently taken a dip at Sonia Vihar, to visit the spot and touch the water.
(PTI News)
