CALANGUTE: A Calangute-based activist has claimed that a well-known resort at Baga-Arpora has been releasing sewage from its soak pit into the drains in the area, which later flows into the Baga river.
A video shot by the activist at 2 am recently has gone viral. The activist stated that the luxury resort, at Baga-Arpora, regularly releases sewage into the drains in the dead of night, leading to unhygienic conditions with sewage water flowing on the roads from blocked drains. The sewage also flows into the Baga river, leading to contamination of the water.
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“Hotels releasing waste water in rainwater drainage is illegal. The local authority and health officer need to initiate strict action against the hotels to avoid dreaded diseases like dengue and malaria,” Calangute Constituency Forum (CCF) president Premanand Divkar said.
Although the Baga river attracts hordes of tourists at the point where it meets the Arabian Sea at Baga, many hotels and resorts in the area have contaminated it by releasing sewage into the river, say locals.
“The licences to the hotels and resorts are issued by the panchayat. They all know about the dos and don’ts. They should ask the hotels to rectify this problem or cancel their licences,” activists said.
Locals said the village panchayats have been ignoring the problem because they do not have jurisdiction over the Baga river, which comes under the Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA).
