Environmentalists have raised concerns over the 'blue dog' phenomenon in Navi Mumbai. (File)
Stray dogs from Navi Mumbai's Taloja Industrial Area have been spotted wearing an unusual colour - bright blue. The reason behind this strange picture is suspected to be pollutants. The local industry body has refuted the allegations of pollutant discharge, terming them as false and unbelievable.
Photos of the strays have recently been trending on social media sites. Arati Chauhan, who shared pictures of the dogs on Facebook, told NDTV, "We observed that birds too are turning blue. The dye companies need to pay attention as to how much their particles are polluting the environment."
Environmentalists have also raised an alarm saying that this has confirmed their suspicion that some industries have been dumping waste into the river without proper treatment.
"Earlier the water was clean but now we don't enter the water because the skin itches," said Dinanath Kamble, a local resident.
The Taloja Industrial area has a fully functional central effluent treatment plant and ideally everything should be treated before discharge. This is why it seems a little far-fetched that industries would bypass the plant and discharge waste directly into the environment and create a hazard.
They added the dogs could have ventured into one of the factories and picked up the colour. "There are thousands of dogs inside the Taloja MIDC. There are many sparrows, crows, cattle and three Lal employees work here. Why have they not become blue?" says Jayashree Katkar, secretary of the Taloja Manufacturers Association.
Meanwhile, in a relief to some of the canines, the dye seems to be washing off after showers in the city.