12 goats die after consuming polluted water from Taloja river
On August 3, livestock farmer Buddha Mahtre had taken his goats for feeding in the adjacent pasture. En route, a 1km trip from his village, the goats passed the river. “Due to rainfall, there is ample water in the river. My goats drank from the river, and in a few minutes, four collapsed and perished”
Navi Mumbai: Health hazards posed due to the unrestrained dumping of chemicals into natural water bodies are fast becoming a reality in Taloja, Navi Mumbai. Last week a livestock farmer had to incur a financial loss of nearly ₹2.5 lakh after 12 of his goats died. Four of his goats were discovered floating dead in the Kasardi River, which has been contaminated with industrial waste.
“For nearly six years, I have been warning both Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) and Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) about the massive destruction to the ecosystem and the Kasardi river due to unrestrained release of chemical effluents directly,” said Arvind Mhatre, former corporator, and petitioner to conserve the river with the National Green Tribunal (NGT). “Almost all the authorities supposed to regulate the process have failed miserably, and now the after-effects can be seen where multiple instances of animals losing their lives after drinking water from Kasardi river.”
Mhatre has been repeatedly demanding the NGT to clean up the river and has even identified a total of 269 factories in Taloja MIDC polluting the river. “Funds worth ₹15 crore have been collected in fines from the polluting industries by NGT, but it is lying unused with the collector office. There is an action plan prepared to address the situation, and ₹38 lakh has been spent on IIT experts to provide a detailed report. The report recommended the urgent requirement to clean the river,” said Mhatre.
On August 3, livestock farmer Buddha Mahtre had taken his goats for feeding in the adjacent pasture. En route, a 1km trip from his village, the goats passed the river. “Due to rainfall, there is ample water in the river. My goats drank from the river, and in a few minutes, four collapsed and perished. The remaining six started showing symptoms of extreme discomfort, and at brief intervals, they too dropped dead,” said Buddha.
The remaining stock was inspected by veterinary doctors to prevent a similar outcome.
Meanwhile, the matter was raised with the Panvel municipal corporation (PMC). “All the officials concerned were informed, and a team of doctors from the corporation, tehsil office arrived and conducted the postmortem,” said Mhatre.
“Along with a veterinary officer from PMC and livestock development officer from Kasarbhat, veterinary dispensary, officials from pollution control board visited the site and found four carcasses in the river,” said Dr Ananr Marakwar, Livestock development officer, Panvel Panchayat Samiti. Postmortem was conducted on one of the bodies, and organs were retrieved to be sent for further sampling in the laboratory in Pune. Reports are awaited to ascertain the actual cause of death of the beings.”
An official from the pollution board has collected water samples from the area.
