Arunachal Pradesh: Locals panic as Kameng water turns black; fishes float dead

As reports of water in the Kameng river in Arunachal Pradesh turning black concerned people, thousands of fishes were found floating dead. While bringing this grave matter into concern, the Deputy Commissioners office at Seppa, East Kameng had issued an advisory on Friday, October 29, which strictly restricted fishing, sale of fishes from the Kameng river and prohibited its consumption. A district fisheries official had claimed that the reason for the discolouration of the water was due to the high content of total dissolved substance (TDS) in the water of the Kameng river. 

It was observed that the total dissolved solids (TDS) level of the Kameng river is around 6,800 mg/litre, which was much higher than the normal TDS level. The Kameng River originates in Tawang from the glacial lake below the Gori Chen Mountain on the India-Tibet border, South Tibet. The Kameng River flows through the West Kameng district in Arunachal Pradesh and Sonitpur district in Assam before connecting with the Brahmaputra river. This takes place at Tezpur, Assam and in Assam, the river is called as 'Jiya Bharali'.

Locals of Arunachal Pradesh panic as Kameng water turns black

Locals at Seppa panicked as several fishes were found floating dead on the Kameng river on Friday. While speaking about the untoward incident, District Fisheries Development Officer (DFDO) Hali Tajo mentioned that according to the preliminary investigation, the reason for the water on the Kameng river turning dark was because of the large presence of TDS.

He added, "This creates low visibility and breathing issues for aquatic species, in the water. As the river water contains high TDS, the fish were unable to inhale oxygen."

While appealing to the people to avoid any consumption of fishes caught at the Kameng river, Tajo warned that doing so could further cause serious health complications. 

Is China behind the reason of River Kameng's turbidity or recent landslides? 

Seppa East MLA Tapuk Talu while demanding answers for the discolouration of the Kameng river and the abrupt death of fishes has appealed to the state government while urging it to constitute a fact-finding committee. Saying that Talu had also mentioned that if the situation extends for a couple of more days, it would completely erase the aquatic life in the Kameng. However, MLA Talu also assumed that such instances occur when there were landslides or if a reservoir breaks down while urging to expedite the recovery of the situation at the earliest.

Back in 2017, a similar situation had occurred when the crystal clear water of the Siang river in Arunachal Pradesh had turned cement-like resulting in the death of tons of fishes. This was suspicious as the rainy season was long over and such an occurrence had never happened before. It was feared that China had undertaken a project to dig a 1000km long tunnel to divert the Yarlung Tsangpo river from Tibet to Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang. This upon completion would have also been the world's longest tunnel. However, China had refuted claims of any such tunnels being dug leaving an air of uncertainty looming over the residents of Arunachal Pradesh.

With inputs from PTI

Image: Twitter/@Babin/Techi Necha