Floating for days, dead crocodile taken out of Powai Lake and buried

04th - 10th July 2010 . Front Page

No post-mortem carried out to ascertain cause of death. Lake water sample sent for testing. Local residents blame pollution of water body for the reptile's death.

The local water body of Powai Lake has its crocs remain in news for some reason or the other. On Sunday morning a local resident and animal activist Siddarth Tayde spotted a dead crocodile floating in the water hyacinth at the Ganesh Visarjan Ghat. He immediately informed PAWS about the dead croc.

Nisha Kunju of PAWS said, “It may be due to ongoing beautification work of the lake by the BMC which has taken toll of the Powai Lake's eco-system and its habitat. BMC should check the pollution in the lake and Forest Department should conduct a post mortem to find out the reason of death. It is very important to take this issue seriously”.

The dead crocodile, floating for several days was finally removed on Wednesday evening and buried near the bank, without a post-mortem as the carcass was too far decomposed.

Environmentalists said, “The BMC should conduct a complete environment impact assessment of the lake to ensure the bio-diversity of the region is not in danger. We should also find out the current count of crocodiles.” Residents fear the carcass has contaminated the water and have demanded that the BMC test it.

Sunish Subramainan of Plant & Animal Welfare Society, who had first reported the presence of the carcass, said, “Even if it were highly decomposed, the forest officials should not have quietly buried it. A post-mortem was necessary to find out if the death was natural or if the water is in good condition.”

BMC's hydraulic engineer Vinay Deshpande said he had inspected the lake and found no evidence of danger to animal life. “Usually if there is any contamination, we'd have found dead fish in the water. That was not the case here. However, as a precaution, I have asked my department to collect water samples for tests. Tests will be done at our labs in Bhandup complex or Dadar; samples will also be sent to the Thane Municipal Corporation laboratory.