Mass Fish Kill at Bengaluru's Chikkanagamangala Lake; Locals Blame Leachate from Waste Plant

Bengaluru: In a second incident in past two years, thousands of dead fish were found floating at Chikkanagamangala lake in Bengaluru on Friday. According to the residents of the area, the leachate from a nearby solid waste management plant run by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has polluted the water, resulting in fish kill. A resident, Pranay Dubey told The Hindu that the plant was operational for the past two years and was stopped in between. Despite the order by National Green Tribunal (NGT), the plant became operational again. The leachate generated is released into lakes. Dubey further told the publication that they have informed the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board about the fish kill and officials from the department will visit the site to investigate the situation.“It is very irresponsible of government agencies to pollute rejuvenated lakes. All our efforts were destroyed by this sewage and toxic water despite being assured that the inlet would be closed,” Kiran Muzumdar Shaw, Executive Chairman of Biocon wrote on microblogging platform X. A senior BBMP official told the publication that the waste management plant has a leachate treatment facility with a capacity of fifty thousand litres. The water produced by this treatment plant is used for gardening, and not a single drop of leachate is released into the lake.