NEW DELHI: After a clip showing a large number of dead fishes floating in the Yamuna near Sonia Vihar made rounds on social media, the BJP government accused the AAP of the deed. It said that AAP staged the incident to defame it.
The exact cause of the deaths, however, remains unconfirmed. Locals alleged that the 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.
Water Minister Parvesh Verma said, “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.
Sonia Vihar is significant in the city’s political landscape, as days back, the government inaugurated a cruise service on the Yamuna between Sonia Vihar and Jagatpur to promote river tourism. The incident comes less than a month after hundreds of fish were found dead in Burari.
