PANJIM: The government has found itself in a tight spot as Drishti Lifesaving Pvt Ltd, which is carrying out beach cleaning since December 2016, stopped its activity citing end of the service agreement with the Tourism Department. This comes at the time when Goa is nearing peak tourist season and is already experiencing international and domestic footfalls across the beaches.
“Our beach cleaning service agreement ended on November 12, 2018. The Department of Tourism was informed about the same several days ago. We have received no further intimation from the department in this matter,” a Drishti spokesperson informed Herald indicating it will not resume the activity until official communiqué from the government.
On Tourism Department’s request, Drishti had initiated garbage collection along the coast in December 2016 and since then the agency has collected 27,79,409 kg of garbage from along the State’s coast.
“We have ensured that the beaches are clean and well maintained. Stakeholders along the beach including shack owners and restaurateurs have been extremely cooperative. We have witnessed greater compliance by shack owners to segregate and hand over waste to Drishti in the past months,” the spokesperson said.
As on Wednesday evening, the Drishti had not received any formal request from the government to continue providing the service. Government sources said they will request the company not to stall the work until the tender finalising the contractor for beach cleaning is complete.
The issue of payment had also cropped during the past months when the agency had written to the government that it would be compelled to suspend the activity if pending bills are not cleared.
“The delay in payments was causing financial strain and also affected the ability to efficiently carry out the beach cleaning,” the official had said after which Tourism Minister Manohar Azgaonkar had assured to clear the pending dues soon.
As many as 350 workers are roped in to clear the waste from the beaches from 9 am to 6 pm. The workers were also given gloves, masks and safety jackets as a part of the company rules.
