INDIANANGLER

Hi guys

Please read article Indian Express dated today 18/06 ref Destroyed Mahseer Fish stock in Badi Himachal Pradesh due to effluent discharge by Industrial units.

Seems that this has been going for a long time and serious damage has been now reported in the newspaper.

Anglers in Himachal and Punjab need to coordinate action on this -
* follow up with the administration on the tests they are conducting on the water and with which labs
* conduct visit to the river and meet the villagers to get on site reports
* keep samples, photographs and maintain proper records of all parameters relating to this issue - including samples of vegetation around as chemical content can also be analysed with the heavy metals present ib vegetation in the banks
* follow up with the DFOs and coordinate action providing support to the DFOs
* follow up with the Pollution Department and check what is going on and what are the rules in discharging water into the river and which units are manufacturing products which have discharge
* provide all such information on an open platform such as this and also directly to the Indian Express to maintain the pressure on the administration to close down all such polluting units

I suggest that group of anglers adopt rivers / lakes / etc in their areas to coordinate monitoring and conservation acitivities.

Without strong action and beliefs - nothing will survive.

man this is so sad!!!

I think the only place my kids will ever see the mahseer is in a glass jar or if they are lucky in a WASI lake!!!

I doubt chemical manufacturing units are allowed to set up plant in badi.. the industrial area with tax benefits is only for non / less polluting factories like Engineering, pharma, Packaging.. correct me if I am wrong

First, on the original post.

Even I did not know there was Mahseer fishing around Baddi [Dist.Solan, HP]. Could you guide us on the specifics of the water body effected.

Second, on Santosh's post.

No, you could have many units capable of pollution in Baddi.

If we can get the specifics then members could send a mail to "HP Environment Protection & Pollution Control Board" at :-

http://hppcb.gov.in/

hey ashok

thanks for your reply ... cant remember the specifics as I dont fish in Himachal but the report was in Indian Express on 17th June - the fish was definetly mahseer which was surprising - maybe small ones but that is something for you guys from up north to check out ... maybe you could fill in with the information as I have no clue on the river either.

do most of my fishing in kumaon and garwhal so will appreciate if you could fill in and let us know.


the point is that even in Uttranchal they have set up industrial sites in Haridwar and Rudrapur - the effluents from Haridwar will pollute the Ganges down river which is Ok till Garh and is the last place for the River Dolphins and was meant to be declared a Ramsar site - i am sure that if declared a ramsar site and people take interest then the mahseer can go down till this area - cant see why they dont actually and i wont be surprised if fishing along bijnore up to Haridwad on does not land a big one ...

the point is that vigilance by anglers with cooperation from the media can avert effluent discharge into the rivers by big industry - it is also important to engage industry leaders and create moral pressures to ensure compliance with pollution norms

Has there been any action? If not does anybody have details of who to contact in HP?

I have heard that the Environment Engineer, HP-Env Protection & PCB [HP-EP& PCB] at Baddi has been transferred due to fish deaths in a river. The officer had given a clean chit to industries and then the the seniors at Shimla sent a team to check water discharge quality the same was not OK.

Otherwise, on Mahseer front we need to focus on the stretch of Beas leading upto Pong Dam. If we are able to do something in this stretch we can progress to the next.

On contact details in HP specific to Sport Fishing they are :-

Mr.KB Ralhan [Secretary General- Himachal Angling Association]
E Mail=himachal_angling@yahoo.com, smctrust@bsnl.in.
Phone=01894-232502, 94180-20620.

Well, to be truthful in HP there are a lot of meetings followed by drinks & dinner to plan what to do on the destruction Mahseer/Trout waters but nothing seems to be done at ground level. No time bound road map here.

Hi Ashok...
you gotta kick Mr. A. Bhimbat in his butt for nothing being done!!! he is too busy doing a lot of other hanky panky!!!

The problem seems to be typical - the system can destroy and be a nuisance in a jiffy, but is unable to do good despite good intentions - and anyone who tries to do otherwise is considered impractical.

Hi Viraj,

I for one, totally agree with you!!! it feels like a been there done that... only difference, going through it right now trying to fight for the mahseer up north!!!

computer jockeys are not going to save the planet ...

the responses from most anglers in north india has been disappointing. i doubt any serious organisation will evolve from anglers ...

but thanks guys for keeping this subject alive - information and tracking such issues on a consistent basis needs to be done to keep the pressure on industry and goverment.

lets stop the crying of how bad it is, just work on it a day at a time - small steps climb big hills.

Hi BG,

Its very easy to point fingers and call people computer jockeys and telephone shikaris... We all sit and talk and don't do squat!!! How many of us are ready to take a radical change in life style and work for a common/greater good? Not very many I think!!! All of us volunteer that 1 sunday a month... how many of us sit there through the year trying to do something???

Cheers,
IG

Lets hear what BG has done for conservation? He's pretty good at shooting his mouth off.

I get a feeling of Deja vu.

But I would love to hear what Bagi has done. Maybe we all can follow his lead.

we have heard enough lets see something first

I am ready to volunteer 1 sunday every month. May we start work on the stretch of Beas leading upto Pong Dam. More experienced member could give us some specifics. We could start with meeting with the head of fisheries and present a memorandum, follow up with a trip to the site to give a field report on Mahseer Stock, Mahseer Size, illegal poaching profile today and plan upto Sep 2008. 1 year down the road we could check up how successful we were. I promise to write my detailed letter to the concerned officer by Monday, latest. All suggestions welcome. End of the day, we need more & more & more anglers.

Thanks for your support so far Ashok.

Please re-read my 1st post reg this subject dated 18th June again.

I would like to draw your attention to the kind of action that is possible against the company/s involved.

I quote below from the latest newsletter from Friends of the Earth/USA which I received yesterday so that people can see how serious these issues are taken in other parts of the world and the positive results that are possible.

"Friends of the Earth sued Chevron in 1994 upon learning that one of its chemical facilities was illegally discharging pollutants into a Texas watershed. We finally won that case this summer when a judge found Chevron to be in violation of federal pollution limits. In an agreement, Chevron agreed to fund the addition of more than 1,600 acres of wetlands to the Big Thicket National Preserve in eastern Texas. Chevron is providing money for the wetland to be purchased by Friends of the Earth partner The Conservation Fund, which will then transfer the land to the National Park Service. Pictures of the land to be protected are available here.''

- see parallels in this case and the case in Badi.

At this stage, after 2 months of this post I regret that I dont have information on which river this is or anything more about it. I was hoping that if anglers in Punjab and Himachal would have helped out, we could get this thing moving forward.

If this is a multinational company, it is very easy to sort this out.

If it is a domestic company large enough, then again it can be sorted out quickly. People are concerned about their images these days.

Delhi is a big city with a lot of helpful people if you go looking for them to join such campaigns who may not be anglers. Legal help, international journalists, funds availability etc.

If Ashok could get the name of the river, some evidence and reports which started the whole thing from the Government, the name of the company/s and pictures from the ground with some interviews from the people down river recorded+transcprited - then this could be presented to some environmental lawyers in Delhi and other serious people who could start some ball rolling. The additional detailed research would be carried out by the lawyers for litigation - the initial information is only to get the lawyers and International organisations involved.

I will appreciate whatever assistance is provided. For more specific discussions email me.



This is just one of the battles I fight ...

Dear Bagi,

At this point I would like to concentrate any of my spare energy to bring a specific stretch of a Mahseer water back to good haelth not too far from Chandigarh. The subject you have mentioned pertains to industrial activity in Baddi/Nalagarh area. Not my area of interest.

Regards,

It seems to me that we are getting somewhere? How many of us our members of an Angling Association? One association that I am a part of is the "Environment & Anglers Association". This society was established by several eminent people who are avid anglers - most of the members have been angling for 50 years and are true conservationists.

Maybe more of us could join this society and then utilize the Society to work on conservation. I feel that individuals will find it difficult to work the system..maybe an institutional mechanism is the way to go..

Anybody interested in the Society, can write to Mr. M.M.Nath at m_m_nath@hotmail.com; he's the secretaryand General Jasbir Singh is the President.

Could you post some more details on the society, its history and work done by its members.

Gentlemen,
I am in appriciation of the efforts by all on this topic , and given time and space "This" pollution battle will be won. this is still small here compared to what happens Haridwar downwards .
I wonder if anyone has thought of our apple orchards up the hills and "Gigantic" quantities of insecticides used there .They all drain into our rivers and hats off to our fish -who survive the onslaught. Mr Ralhan once presented some frightening figures -but the fish still live on and give good sport (in the sense that they are healthy).
Warm Wishes...Ham

The challanges are so many - politicains, corruption, pollution, education et. al. In this forum we must stick to sport fishing, protection of sport fishing waters and promotion of sport fishing. If we can manage this single thing we would have achieved much.

Ashok

I dont have the exact details, but am generally aware that the society must be more than 10 years old and most of the members were from the North, esp Delhi, Dehradun, CHandigarh. At present the society has appx 50 fulltime members and possibly at some time they had more members.

This society did the original running around to get the Forest Dept, Govt of Uttaranchal to issue leases of river stretches on the Ramganga outside Corbett and now there are 4 stretches that have been leased out. That's a pretty big plus as its almost impossible to get the Forest/Govt Dept to 'release' anything from their control. I think it took over 4 years to get it thru. The other 3 stretches had it easy as the precedent had been set.

I also know that the Society is short of funds and that the 'active' members are in their 60s, 70s and 80s! I also know some members personally and they are old school anglers who cared enough post retirement to establish the society.

More info can be got by emailing Mr. M M Nath (email in the earlier post)

Regards

PS - Mr M M Nath has angled extensively in Assam, Cauvery, Kashmir, Uttarakhand, probably Himachal and overseas. He builds his own rods and is strictly a multiplier man, unless he's fly fishing. General Jasbir, a senior Indian Army Officer, is a widely respected citizen of DehraDun and a gentleman angler.