According to Kavlekar, likewise in the past, even this time before the New Year, the panchayat voluntarily cleaned the beach and installed dustbins at various locations with the belief that after New Year celebrations, people enjoying on the beach would use dustbins to dump their waste. However, all the panchayat’s aspirations did not materialize and people destroyed the beauty of Bogmalo beach by dumping glass bottles.
“We thought that New Year revellers would maintain the beauty of the beach but we were wrong. They not only littered their garbage all over the beach, but some of them even broke liquor bottles on the beach, which has been causing a serious problems for daily visitors as well as local fishermen community using the beach”, he informed
He further claimed that though the panchayat has no issues with people celebrating New Year on the beach, but if they (New Year revellers) continue to destroy the natural beauty of the beach by throwing their trash, then the panchayat would be forced to take tough decision and would then stop people from partying at the beach, especially on New Year’s Eve.
“Every year this has become a routine affair and this time villagers are upset with garbage menace on the beach,” Kavlekar said.
Supporting the demand, even the locals from Bogmalo demanded that the Tourism Department should take some concrete steps to curb increasing garbage menace at Bogmalo beach.
“Firstly our panchayat does not have any site to dump garbage generated from village and how to dispose such huge waste generated only during New Year eve is the biggest challenge. We request the Tourism Department to immediately send its team to Bogmalo beach and take necessary steps in clearing the heaps of garbage dumped on the beach,” said Arun Naik, a Bogmalo resident.
