The residents of Bharuch city took out a rally to protest against the forest department and local administration after an endangered turtle died on Friday.
Sources said the turtle — Ganges Soft Shell Turtle, a rare and endangered spieces found only in rivers like Ganga, Mahanadi — allegedly died due to high pollution level in Ratan Talav located in the city.
The residents were miffed as they claimed that in last one month, five such endangered turtles have died and the administration has failed to take any step to prevent it. The procession was cut short after forest department officials intervened.
"We have approached the district collector at least thrice in last one month. Each time, we were told that he would first visit the sit and than talk to us. But today, another turtle was found dead. We had planned to take the procession to the collector office but the forest officials suddenly came in between. They have promised to take some step soon," said Kamlesh Parmar, a city-based activist.
The forest officials, on their part, said they will approach the civic body to clean up the pond, which is home to more than 100 such endangered turtles.
Deputy Conservator of Forest R L Patel told The Indian Express, "The postmortem report confirms that the creature died due to pollution and filth in the pond. We have asked the civic body to clean up the pond."
