MAPUSA: Every corner and roadside of Siolim, especially the road going towards Anjuna has been littered with garbage.
Siolim village is situated on coastal belt of Chapora River and has two famous beaches, Vagator and Anjuna. Thousands of tourists travel through Siolim on daily basis throughout the year to enjoy the beauty of these two beaches. However, with the garbage littered all around, the beauty of the village is getting spoiled.
Many internal roads as well as main roads leading towards Anjuna are dumped with piles of garbage. Whose garbage is it and what time is it being dumped, Siolkars wonder.
With increase in population in Siolim, more and more houses, buildings and shops are mushrooming in the village but there is no particular garbage disposal spot where people can dispose their garbage. In the absence of garbage bins, people dump their garbage in any space available or on the road side which further turns into a food zone for animals.
Maria Fernandez, a local, said, “We don’t know whose garbage it is. Locals dump their garbage as well as the people commuting by the village. When the dumped garbage becomes too much, we put fire to it so that animals don’t eat it. Since many people do not commute through internal roads, people throw their garbage on this stretch taking advantage of isolated places.”
It is noticed that the road going towards Anjuna from Siolim is always filled with garbage. However, many times people tried to clean the area but dumping of garbage here has not stopped. Since the beaches also fall on the same direction, almost every tourists visiting Siolim pass through this area where garbage is being dumped.
A Shirodkar, a Siolim local, said, “This garbage was removed few months ago by one social group. Also the local MLA had cleaned this area once but the situation has gone back to the old scene. There are no bins available here due to which people directly throw the garbage in open”.
