The initiative and aim of the Clean India, Clean Goa is praiseworthy. It could take some time for society at large to inculcate the values of cleanliness. We see a lot of activities being carried out such as beach and street cleanliness drives.
I would like to suggest that the Clean Goa campaign be extended to include stopping people from urinating in public. It’s such an eye sore and extremely disrespectful for women and children to see men urinate on the Miramar beach which is very popular with tourists and locals as well. The Miramar beach stretch has a lot of buses from out of Goa, with tourists making a stop here. What we see is men easing themselves near the coconut trees and access ways to the beaches which is so unhygienic and a big turn off to those visiting Miramar beach. This is all taking place despite there being pay toilets available at the entrance leading to the beach.
What’s important to carry forward the Swachh Bharat campaign is infrastructure, awareness on need for cleanliness and if these don’t work then strict implementation. We might be having a shortfall in police patrolling the beaches but at least we can have a few cops posted during peak time like evening at the Miramar beach or making random checks where those urinating in the public beach will be fined. This will definitely act as a deterrent and will take the Clean Goa campaign forward.
