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By Subir Bhaumik
BBC News, Calcutta
Thousands of dead fish have been washed ashore in a river in the north-eastern
Indian state of Assam river since early this week.
They were discovered on the banks of the Brahmaputra river in the state
capital, Guwahati.
An equal number of sick fish were found in the same place, officials said. They
blamed rising pollution levels.
An investigation has been ordered by the Assam government, said C.K.Bhuiyan,
senior district official in Guwahati.
'Zero pollution'
Earlier in the year, the Assam Pollution Control Board (APCB) told all the oil
refineries in the state to achieve "zero pollution" levels by 31 December,
otherwise they would be threatened with closure.
The Guwahati refinery was found to be the worst polluting refinery and was
perhaps the only one in Assam not to have yet complied, pollution control board
officials said.
"The marine life in the Brahmaputra river has been seriously affected by the
pollution caused by these refineries, particularly the Guwahati refinery," said
Jawaharlal Dutta, APCB chairman.
He alleged that pollution from these refineries was several hundred times above
the permissible limits.
But district officials who are monitoring the development were not ruling out
other possible causes.
"It could be a case of poisoning caused by water pollution or may be an outcome
of some kind of explosion inside the water to catch fish in large numbers from
the river. We are not ruling out either possibility at this moment," Mr Bhuiyan
said.
Killing of fish by using explosives and chemical fertilisers or other poisonous
substances is not uncommon in Assam, especially during the winter.