MARGAO: With the monsoon on the wane, many locals have gone back to their daily walks on beaches along Salcete’s coastal belt, but they have been left shocked and upset with the amount of broken glass they are discovering on the shores as they walk along the shore.
While they wonder if these glass pieces have moved from the original spot that they were thrown at, with the force of the wind or currents during the recent rains, they have expressed alarm that someone could get hurt, be it a tourist, local resident, or animal.
Given that there have been many incidents already where beach-goers, including young children, have been wounded after stepping on broken glass, the locals have demanded that the authorities take this issue far more seriously.
They also questioned the status and enforcement of the two bans that were introduced a couple of years ago. The first was a ban on public drinking on beaches and the second, on littering on beaches.
“Whoever is doing this has to be punished and only when there is some fear of the law, will this stop. I am concerned because I see some people walking barefoot on the sand. There are fishermen too. These are not minor injuries we are talking about. The image of Goa as a tourist destination can suffer due to this, and this has been a problem already in the past,” said Seema Narvekar from Margao.
Others demanded that the government and the alcohol companies work out a better system to ensure that there is a better collection of discarded bottles, including plastic.
