MARGAO, JAN 5
Believe it or not, contaminated waters from the Colva creek have once again found its way into the sea on Wednesday: Courtesy, unscrupulous restaurant owners.
Labourers – believed to be engaged by unscrupulous business owner — dug a trench connecting the creek waters to the sea, without realizing that the polluted waters would affect tourists swimming in the waters.
The situation once again brought to the fore rampant discharge of sewage and waste waters into the creek, contaminating the waters.
If local activists are to be believed, the labourers were working on the beach since morning, quietly digging a trench. Work on the trench was stopped only after handful of workers, were questioned by the activists.
Secretary of the Colva Civic and Consumer Forum, Judith Almeida cried foul over the pathetic situation and demanded to know the whereabouts of the Environment Minister and the Goa Pollution Control Board in tackling the pollution
“The government should open its eye and see the pollution caused by the filth and sewage waters released in the sea waters. This illegal way of tackling the pollution of the creek will lead us nowhere and will only drive away tourists from coming to Colva”, Ameida said.
“Since May last, we have been crying for some action by the authorities. The Goa Pollution Control Board has carried out the inspection, but nobody really seems to care for the environment “, she said, and sought to know whether there’s any governance worth its name is prevailing in Goa, with even big constructions coming up right near the beach in Colva with political patronage.
She demanded that the government, which promotes Goa as a tourist destination, whould provide a clean environment and to swim in this filth and raw sewage water released from the creek.
In fact, exasperated over the situation and the indifference from the government authorities, the local activists now plan to knock the doors of the Judiciary to set things rights in this popular South Goa beach.
This is not the first time that attempts have been made to release the polluted creek waters into the sea. Last time around, even heavy machinery was deployed by a contractor to dig a huge trench to connect the creek to the sea, but was stalled after locals activists cried foul over the activity.
