AGARTALA, September 1 (TIWN): The state government is now trying to replenish oxygen levels at Kalyansagar, the ‘divine waterbody’ at Tripurasundari temple – one of the 51 Hindu shaktipithas of the country, by deploying special equipments in the pond, official sources said.

Death of fishes in the pond continued with 12 more fishes found dead in the waterbody on August 31, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Ajit Debnath said. He added that a joint meeting of officials of District Magistrate (Gomati) Sonal Goel, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Udaipur) Ajit Debnath, local MLA Madhab Deb and representatives of the Tripurasundari temple management committee resolved to purchase ten aerators to replenish oxygen levels for the pond animals.

SDM Debnath further said that the ratio of fishes and space in the pond went exceedingly out of proportion in the past few years. “People have their religious beliefs attached to the waterbody and we can’t shift the fishes or turtles out of it. But then the fishes are dying everyday and our experts feel that shortage of oxygen is the main reason of death of fishes”, he said.

MLA Madhab Saha said in a similar tune and added all steps were being taken to control the death of fishes. Experts said that the temple management authorities have turned down the most significant issue of shortage of proper food in the pond. “How could they talk about fish and space ratio when there was no survey of fishes and other animals living in the pond since 2003?” quipped an environmental expert who recently visited the pond.

The expert said that bodies of fishes are surfacing in the pond; often just the heads with no body or tail. Water hyacinth arranged for breeding of fishes aside the pond were all eaten up in a surprising note.

“We feel that the pond has absolute scarcity of proper food for the fishes”, the environmentalist said. He added that BOD levels in the pond ecology are normal but absence of survey about types of aquatic animals living in the waterbody have led to total failure in identifying reasons of the deaths.

“We feel that bigger fishes might have eaten smaller ones out of desperation after the water hyacinths were out. The authorities should take care of it”, he added.