Health risks loom as chicken waste used in fish farming

Sr. Staff Reporter, Kishoreganj :

Chicken shed on a fish farm. Despite the fact that it is harmful to public health, hundreds of acres of agricultural land have been converted into fisheries, ignoring the prohibitions of the Fisheries Department and the Livestock Department.
The water and environment are being polluted by raising chickens and cultivating fish at the same time. Since chicken droppings are used directly as fish food, toxic substances like ammonia gas are mixed in the bodies of the fish. And the fish that grow with these harmful bacteria are going to the local market, as well as to various districts in Dhaka and the surrounding areas.
At the entrance to Mathia area of Danapatuli union in Kishoreganj Sadar upazila, rows of chicken sheds will be seen on both sides of the road above the fishery. Where farmers trade hundreds of crores of taka in fish alone every year. However, the fisheries officials and concerned people themselves are worried about all these farmed fish. A ban has been imposed on this method of farming. Despite the ban, these dangerous fish are being farmed in the fishery along the Nikli-Kishoreganj road. Nearly two hundred fish farms have been built by digging up agricultural land. Each fish farm has a chicken shed. The chicken droppings in the sheds are being used directly as fish food. More than 100 crore taka of fish is being produced from here every year. There are also allegations of using antibiotics and other ingredients for chickens in these farms. There is a fear that the droppings will enter the human body through the fish and cause incurable diseases. In addition, chicken droppings are being brought in trucks from Gazipur for the fish farms here as fish food. The environment is being polluted by leaving them on the side of the road. Pedestrians are suffering.
Local residents and pedestrians saids, we have to come and go through this road every day. We have to cover our noses and mouths due to the smell. It makes us suffocate. A complaint was made a few days ago, but it was closed for a few days, but it is starting again. Chicken droppings are breeding flies and mosquitoes.