TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: It has been three days since the government announced with much fan fare the appointment of Mumbai based agencies to rid the beaches of waste and litter.
Welcome to Colva beach, where the beach cleaning agency is yet to make its presence felt till date, with the beach playing host to garbage and other waste for want to cleaning.
When a Herald team visited Colva beach, not only waste was found scattered on the beach, but tourists coolly consuming liquor right under the nose of the men in uniform. The stray dog menace also raised its ugly head on the beach for want of a mechanism to tackle the same.
That garbage and waste from hotels and commercial establishments is finding its way on the beach is evident by the fact that the shacks are no more in operation and the waste appeared fresh in nature.
Local NGOs and activists also cried foul over the government’s beach management system. Activist Judith Almeida said it is indeed shocking that there’s a hell lot of garbage strewn on the Colva beach. “This is a sad reflection of the governance of the day. We have seen tourists consuming alcohol and beer on the beach and on the drains, but the police were found wanting in implementing the law”, she said, while demanding to know whether there’s real governance in the state.
She said the tourism department has been cooking big stores on the tourism in the state, but the ground reality is sadly different.
Incidentally, one found a number of stray dogs on the prowl on Colva beach on Wednesday, raising questions whether there’s any mechanism put in place to tackle the menace.
