Agra, Jan 14 (IANS) Scores of devotees who had gone to worship river Yamuna here early Saturday morning were shocked at the sight of thousands of dead fish near the Balkeshwar Ghat, activists said.

Alarm bells were ringing by afternoon and the Agra Water Works had to increase the quantity of chemicals to treat the polluted water.

Heaps of dead fish were also noticed at village Narhauli near Farah in Mathura district.

The quality of water in the river deteriorated after abrupt discharge from the Gokul barrage, which raised the water level in Agra by a foot Friday.

“The water stored at Gokul barrage is all industrial effluents and sewer waste flowing down from upstream cities and industrial clusters of Faridabad and Ballabhgarh. Even bacterias cant survive in this polluted water,” said activist Shravan Kumar Singh of the Yamuna Foundation for Blue Water.

Surendra Sharma, president of the Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society, said: “Every year there are incidents of fish deaths and still the authorities are not waking up to the threat.”