Report on farming of African Catfish, Krishnagiri district, Tamil Nadu, 13/01/2020
Factual and action taken report filed by the district collector, Krishnagiri district, Tamil Nadu in the matter of M. Sivakumar Vs State of Tamil Nadu.
The petitioner, M. Sivakumar had filed the petition before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) alleging that illegal farming of African catfish also known as 'African magur' was taking place in Krishnagiri district. This activity was banned under the Biological Diversity Act, 2002. The said farming involved feeding of chicken wastes, egg wastes to African catfish causing foul smell and water pollution.
In pursuance to the NGT order of October 22, 2019 the Krishnagiri district administration formed 9 inspection teams on December 5, 2019 consisting of officials of the Fisheries, Police, Rural Development and Revenue Departments - to identify the prohibited African Catfish farms and to destory such stocks immediately.
The 9 inspection team carried out inspection of all fish ponds in entire Krishnagiri district from December 7 - 23, 2019. The teams identified 259 prohibited African Catfish farms and destroyed all such stocks in Krishnagiri district - as reported by the Assistant Director of Fisheries, Krishnagiri district dated December 24, 2019.
The report informed the NGT that effective action would be taken to destory the new African Catfish farms found if any by the district administration in future in Krishnagiri district. At present there are no farming of African Catfish functioning in Krishnagiri district. Note: The report of January 13, 2020 was uploaded to the NGT site on August 25, 2020