Kupwara: On the eve of Mahashivratri festival, very few people bought fishes which were put on sale by the Fisheries Department on Monday, alleging that the department is selling unsafe fishes.
Few days ago, about 14,000 fishes were found dead in a government fish farm at Langate area of the district after some miscreants had thrown a poisonous chemical into the stream flowing through the area.
Authorities then advised people not to consume water from streams and tube-wells. The nallah was cleaned in a couple of days.
Locals claimed the fishes are poisonous and many left without buying a single fish from the sale through mobile distribution system. Some even said the fishes are dead.
However, the officials at the Fisheries Department while rejecting the people’s allegations told INS, “We have bought these fishes from a private farm and these are safe to eat. We have even made an arrangement of oxygen for them and they are alive.”
“No one should panic about these fishes,” they assured.
According to Assistant Director Fisheries, Kupwara, the department has put on sale two quintal of fishes at the rate of Rs 400 per kg in the district and Pandit dominated areas.
