ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has established pickets around Rawal Dam to counter incidents of fish mortality, for which it has sought assistance from the police.

The CDA’s fisheries department decided to establish pickets after a fish mortality incident in Rawal Dam earlier this month, officials from the capital administration said. A case was registered with the Secretariat police over the incident against unidentified individuals under sections 277 and 429 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

This was one of a few such incidents at the dam in the last couple of years, they said.

Officials said the pickets were established under the supervision of Director Agriculture Extension Service Qaiser Khan Khattak. They said 10 pickets were established on the edges of the dam, including at Kinara Restaurant.

Police assistance also sought after a fish mortality incident earlier this month

They said 45 capital administration officials are deployed at the pickets in two 12-hour shifts. Two police reserves were also sought to deploy and patrol around the dam and in the lake.

They said the police team will deal with any untoward situation.

The officials said the step was taken to ensure the dam is watched. Administration officials and police will ensure that the lake is not poisoned to kill fish, and they will also prevent illegal fishing in the dam.

A control room has also been set up to work round-the-clock. Three boats from the fisheries department have been made functional to patrol Rawal Dam on the pattern of coast guards.

They said the fishers department have also tested the dam’s water quality at the National Agricultural Research Centre and the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency. Both organisations have declared the dam water fit for consumption.

Samples have also been sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency for a detailed report that will be received soon, they added.

A spokesperson for the capital administration told Dawn that the dam is being patrolled and surveilled in response to the perception that people poison the dam’s water to harm or kill fish. He said the dam’s water has never been poisoned in the past.

He said a breed of fish known as silver dies during a particular kind of weather in Islamabad and Punjab. It was earlier suspended that the fish were dying because the water was being contaminated or poisoned, but they have been dying naturally, he said.

He added that officials are performing duties, but there are some spots by the dam with thick woods that are home to wild animals and officials on duty or patrolling are afraid to venture inside such areas. He said that people involved in illegal fishing are using these areas, but patrolling in the water will counter their practices.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2019