PANJIM: At least 25 km of Goa’s 105-km long coastline has suffered the ravages of erosion, the Rajya Sabha was told by the Union Minister of State with Independent Charge for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh in his written reply on Thursday.
He said that this problem had “accelerated” over the years quoting a study conducted by Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune.
“The average sea-level rise trends along the Indian west coast have been about 3.0 mm each year during the last two decades. Sea-level rise is a very slow phenomenon and occurs because of physical factors like normal subsidence, coastal erosion and siltation of river channels along the coastline, apart from global warming,” he reportedly said.
Singh said erosion has been seen along the coastline including at Candolim and Baga with government trying many tactics including sandbags and other methods like geo tubes which till date have not managed to solve or even slow down the problem.
Goa’s beaches are its USP for its tourists – both foreign and domestic.
However, these very beaches have been under pressure recently as besides erosion, tar balls and garbage have also been creating a nuisance on the beaches.
In 2012, the State attracted 27,88,029 and 2013 the number was 31,21,473 tourists.
