Kapurthala: Scores of fish have been found dead at the Kanjli wetland. While officials of the state Fisheries Department claim that aquatic life is gradually vanishing from the wetland due to low oxygen levels in Kali Bein, a tributary of the Beas, environmentalist Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal, member of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB), blames polluted water from nearby villages for the death of the fish. It is not the first time that dead fish have been spotted at the wetland. Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Kapurthala Kuldeep Singh Chandi has directed officials of the Fisheries as well as the Drainage Department to undertake a survey of the site and submit a report as to what had caused the death of a large number of fish. Talking to the Tribune, Chandi said the Assistant Director, Fisheries, and the Sub-Divisional Officer, Drainage, attributed the aquatic deaths to the abysmally low level of oxygen in the water body. He said it was found that water in Kali Bein had receded with farmers upstream the Kanjli headworks using water for irrigating their fields for paddy transplation. The SDM said the district administration had written to the department concerned to increase the release of water from the Mukerian headworks to 400 cusecs from 300 cusecs. He said the officials had ruled out the possibility of chemically treated water being discharged into Kali Bein. The Fisheries Department had been asked to fish out the dead fish from the water body, Chandi added.