Water hyacinth continues to plague Salim Ali Lake

Aurangabad: The local civic body has been accused of not taking swift action for carrying out the scientific management of rapidly growing water hyacinth in the

Salim Ali Lake

.

The Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) had invited Expression of Interest (EoI) for the desired work on February 26, but so far things have not progressed on ground.

A spot visit to the Lake on Thursday revealed further spread of the free floating plant inside the waterbody.

When contacted, AMC acting garden superintendent Vijay Patil said that the official process for appointing the agency for scientific management of Salim Ali Lake could take another week to complete.

“The last date for sending entries in response to the EoI was March 15. A total of five firms have shown interest for carrying out the desired work. We have asked for a detailed presentation from these firms before appointing the most competent agency,” he said.

Located near Delhi Gate, the Salim Ali Lake is considered as home to many bird species as permanent residents. As per studies done in the past, the Lake was found to be home of over 80 bird varieties, almost 16 tree species, 11 shrub types, 8 climbers, 32 terrestrial herbaceous plants, 10 varieties of algae, 12 of aquatic herbs, 16 aquatic insects, molluscs and crustaceans, nine varieties of fish, 15 species reptiles, seven types of rodents and mammals and 102 types of insects among other creatures.

Environmentalist Kishor Pathak stressed on the need for quick steps for performing the scientific management of the water hyacinth inside the

lake

.

“The excess presence of water hyacinth is not advisable as it could harm the local biodiversity. The civic body must take quick steps to contain the spread of the water hyacinth. We were expecting appointment of necessary agency by March 20, but the civic authorities are unnecessarily consuming lot of time,” he said.

“The water hyacinth thrives only in contaminated water. The excess presence of the free floating plant inside the Lake is a proof that Salim Ali Lake has been receiving huge inflow of sewerage water,” he added.


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