GUWAHATI: Locals of Deepor Beel and the fishermen of Paspara released 50,000 fish youngs into the Deepor Beel in an annual custom on Wednesday, July 13, with the hope that the fishes survive the toxic liquid and solid waste which exudes from the nearby West Boragaon landfill site.
This annual ritual has been carried out by the fishermen alongside the Deepor Beel since the last 20 years. The locals of Deepor Beel and the fisherman community have appealed to the Government to set up a "Fish Production Centre" so that authorities can start work to clean the polluted stretches of the Deepor Beel and ensure that toxic waste doesn't find its way to the Ramsar site which is home to several rare and endemic species of flora and fauna and also an Important Bird Area.
The fishermen have appealed that the government take steps to help these fishermen in keeping the fishes alive so that the fishes grow and help them sustain their livelihood in the future.
Resident and fisherman Golak Das says "We urge that the Government ensure that garbage is treated and disposed in a way that we don't have to pollute our freshwater bodies by dumping the entire city's garbage in a dumping ground anymore. I also urge that the Government treat toxic drain water which flows from the Mora-Bharalu and Bahini river into the Deepor Beel at source and released so that the toxins dont claim the lives of the native fishes and jeopardise our livelihoods."
A total of 825 families of fishermen and locals depend on the native fish species found in the Deepor Beel for their livelihoods and for consumption.
These families now live their lives in uncertainty owing to the rise in toxic waste and pollution levels in the Deepor Beel which claims lives of these native fish species and other species of rare and endemic flora and fauna.