River ranching in UP to clean Ganga

Lucknow, Sep 29 (SocialNews.XYZ) In another effort to keep the Ganga clean and pollution-free, the Uttar Pradesh government, under the Namami Gange campaign, will begin the practice of river ranching.

An action plan has been formulated, according to which about 15 lakh fishes of different species will be released into the river by the Department of Fisheries.

This will help in sustaining and conserving the biodiversity in the river and will ensure its cleanliness under the Namami Gange campaign.

These fishes will be released in about 12 districts ranging from eastern Uttar Pradesh to the western Uttar Pradesh.

These districts are Ghazipur, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Prayagraj, Kaushambhi, Pratapgarh, Kanpur, Hardoi, Bahraich, Bulandshahr, Amroha and Bijnor.

Nearly 1.5 lakh fishes each will be released in Ganga from Varanasi and Ghazipur districts.

River ranching will help in achieving sustainable fisheries, reducing habitat degradation, conserving biodiversity, maximising social-economic benefits and will also remove factors causing pollution.

To ensure the cleanliness of the river, the state government has also constructed sewage treatment plants (STPs) to eliminate flow of untreated sewage into Ganga under the Namami Gange campaign.

To monitor pollution along the river, the government also deployed the Ganga Task Force.

Principal Secretary, Namami Gange, Anurag Srivastava said that the practice of river ranching is a part of the efforts being made for cleanliness of Ganga and conservation of groundwater.

N.S. Rahmani, Deputy Director, Department of Fisheries said that the activity of 'river ranching' is also used to control pollution and to improve marine life in the river. In this activity, different species of fish are released in the river, which destroy the factors that increase the levels of nitrogen.

These fish will also aid in maintaining the cleanliness of the river as they feed on organic remnants. He added that due to overfishing and pollution in the Ganges, fish population was also decreasing.

Rahmani, further informed that about 1500 kg of fish, present in an area of about 4,000 square metres, controls about 1 mg per litre of nitrogen waste.

Therefore, the government has decided to release nearly 15 lakh fish into the Ganges to control excess nitrogen in the river. If nitrogen exceeds 100 mg per litre or more, it becomes highly detrimental to the fish diversity of the river.

Consequently, the fish cannot reproduce and lay eggs which leads to their extinction.

Through this practice, the released fish will be made to grow and proliferate for restoration of the fish stock, which will not only protect the aquatic organisms but will also reduce the pollution. The fish to be released include Rohu, Catla and Mrigal.

Source: IANS