Joint secretary of HAA Dinesh Butail, in a statement here today, lamented that the watch and ward staff in Kangra rarely visited vulnerable stretches of streams in the district where miscreants used various methods considered illegal under the HP Fisheries Act, 1976.

Butail was on a three day-visit to the district to study and select a site for holding the next angling competition to be held later this year.The miscreants were not afraid of carrying out explosions to catch fish, specially in the Dehra area, where officials were busy preparing for election to the Pragpur Assembly seat, he said.

``Four blasts took place in a 4-km stretch of the river within few hours on May 17. Fish vendors of the area were selling fried fish at Rs 60 per kg,'' said Butail, charging that the standard meal of the party workers busy campaigning was rice and fish.

Butail appealed to the state government to pull up the watch and ward staff and provide assistance to voluntary and non-government organisations (NGOs) like HAA, besides delegating powers to panches to deal with fishing offences and to check the killing of mahasir.