Dead Fish In Yamuna Raise Political Stink, AAP And BJP Spar

Dead fish seen floating in the Yamuna have triggered a political war of words between the ruling BJP and the opposition Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Several social media users posted visuals of dead fish in the Yamuna ahead of the Chhath Puja festival along the Sonia Vihar stretch of the river in the Capital.

The sightings came just a day after the official launch of Delhi's first recreational river cruise service, the Namo Yamuna River Safari. 

The incident has triggered a political row, with Delhi Environment Minister Parvesh Verma alleging that the dead fish were deliberately dumped into the river to discredit the government. The Opposition AAP questioned, "If this water is not safe for fish, is it safe for humans?"

Parvesh Verma alleged that some people were deliberately dumping dead fish adding that an FIR has been filed. "As soon as ferry services started operating on the Yamuna, just a day later, officials from our department informed me that some people were dumping dead fish into the Yamuna," he told mediapersons.

"The department is filing an FIR today. An investigation will be conducted to identify who these people are and whether they have any connection to AAP workers," he claimed.

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This is the second incident of mass fish deaths in the Yamuna in one month.

AAP MLA and former minister Saurabh Bhardwaj posted a video of dead fish floating in the river and alleged that some harmful chemicals were being released into the river to make it appear clean ahead of Chhath Puja. He also rejected the government charge that "some people" were dumping dead fish into the Yamuna, asking for proof of the allegation.

"Minister @p_sahibsingh is verbally saying that dead fish were brought from somewhere and dumped into the Yamuna, but this is nowhere mentioned in the complaint. Everyone knows the fish must have died from polluted water. Perhaps they got scared that an investigation would expose the Yamuna's pollution. Will the government order an investigation into how thousands of fish died?" he asked.

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The political row has come weeks after Delhi BJP MP Manoj Tiwari took a dip in the river and sipped its water to claim that the river has been cleaned by the BJP government. The Opposition had rejected the claim, insisting that the Sonia Vihar stretch where Tiwari took the dip has always been clean and the Yamuna gets polluted in the later stretch.

In October, the death of hundreds of fish was reported in Burari, upstream of the Wazirabad barrage, a stretch often considered Yamuna's cleanest section in Delhi. The deaths raised concerns as they came soon after the monsoon, when the river is expected to have adequate water and cleaner upstream inflows.