Pollution in Kota's Chandraloi River Suspected in Deaths of 4 Crocodiles

Kota: The death of four crocodiles in as many days in the Chandraloi River here has sparked concern among wildlife activists who have attributed the "high level of pollution" in the water body as the reason behind the deaths.

Crocodiles are listed in Schedule-1-C of the Wildlife Protection Act, according to officials.

Veterinary doctors have attributed suspected poisoning behind the death of one of the crocodiles -- a 15-year-old female -- whose autopsy was conducted here on Wednesday. They said no sign of any internal or physical injury or disease was found.

The body of the around 7-foot-long young female crocodile was retrieved from the river, a tributary of the Chambal River, in Ramkhedi village near Chandrashel Muth on Tuesday.

The carcasses of three other crocodiles, two of them aged 10 and nine years, were found in the same spot on Saturday and Sunday.

There is no mass causality of crocodiles in the river. One of the four crocodiles died of natural causes while the samples of the other three were sent for examination. The reason behind their deaths will be clear only after the receipt of the report, DFO, territorial, Kota Apoorva Krishna Shrivastav said.

The DFO asserted that suspected poisoning could not be the reason behind the deaths as there were hundreds of crocodiles in the river. If there had been any major issue with the water in the river, the casualties would have gone up, he said.

Meanwhile, a team from the forest department is patrolling the area round the clock and the Pollution Control Board has been asked to collect water samples from the river for examination of pollutants, he said.

Chandraloi river comes out of a stream in Alania near Kota and shrinks into a rivulet as it passes through the city for about 15 km absorbing chemical and human waste from industries and colonies before merging into the Chambal River near Manasgaon.

Wildlife activist Brijesh Vijayvargiya said the river is home to a sizeable population of crocodiles and needs to be pollutant-free.

"To conserve the river as well as the aquatic life in it, it should be developed as a 'crocodile park'," Vijayvargiya, who is associated with NGO Jal Biradari, said.