Udaipur : Two more crocodiles were found dead in Nagri area of Bedach river in Chittorgarh district on Sunday. On the information from the residents, the officials from the forest department went to the area and took the carcasses for postmortem at the veterinary hospital.
“Of the two bodies, one is a decomposed body of an adult crocodile while the other one is a skeletal remains of a baby crocodile. The post mortem of the adult crocodile has been conducted and the reports would be soon attained” DFO Sugna Ram Jat told Udaipur Kiran.
Two days ago, on Friday, the villagers had spotted a dead crocodile in the area , which they had carried to the collectorate and staged protest, The villagers had alleged that the waste water released by Hindustan Zinc Ltd is polluting the river water which is further taking toll on the avian life as well as killing their cattle.
After the protest, the officials from the Pollution Control Board (PCB) had collected the water sample from the area while the forest department too had held postmortem and taken viscera samples.
On Sunday too, the villagers confronted the forest officials and demanded action against the company for causing environmental harms and fatality to the wildlife. The locals said that for some time, mass mortality of fishes, birds had been reported and now in two days, three crocodile carcasses have been discovered.
Despite repeated reminders, the authorities as well as the district administration has not taken any action. The villagers warned to move to the court, if stringent steps are not taken soon. Meanwhile, the forest department said the cause of deaths would be known from the postmortem reports only.
“The post mortem reports may soon arrive while the viscera test reports may take some time. If polluted water is found to be the cause of deaths, we will write to the PCB recommending appropriate actions against the responsible body since the matter falls under their jurisdiction” the DFO said.