The Navi Mumbai Animal Protection Cell on Thursday filed a complaint with the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board about animals in the Mumbai suburb’s Taloja industrial area suffering because of untreated in the Kasadi river, the Hindustan Times reported on Friday.
The waste in the water – released by the thousand pharmaceutical, food and engineering factories in the area – were dyeing the fur of dogs in the region blue as they often wade into the river in search of food.
“It was shocking to see how the dog’s white fur had turned completely blue,” said Arati Chauhan, the Navi Mumbai resident who runs the animal welfare organisation. “We have spotted almost five such dogs here and have asked the pollution control board to act against such industries.”
Chauhan added that they had only spotted blue dogs so far. “We do not know whether birds, reptiles and other creatures are affected or whether they have even died owing to the dye discharged into the air,” she said.
The pollution control board said they had made note of the complaint. “Allowing the discharge of dye into any water body is illegal,” MPCB Navi Mumbai Regional Officer Anil Mohekar told the Hindustan Times. “We will take action against the polluters as they are destroying the environment. We have directed our sub-regional officer to investigate.”
In August 2016, fishermen had alleged that effluents in the polluted river were causing the fish to die.
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