Aradi nullah polluted, flows into Nerul River
Water pipelines through fields are choked with garbage
Collective effort of government, citizens sought
VIBHA VERMA
vibha@herald-goa.com
CALANGUTE: Shockingly, and quite brazenly, garbage was being burnt at 11 am on Calangute beach itself even as hundreds of domestic tourists were enjoying themselves on the beach.
Team Herald spent a day on the beach and the twin villages of Calangute and Candolim only to find that garbage has turned out to be the centre of attraction. Amongst the many items strewn across the long stretch are plastic, water and soft drink bottles, glass liquor bottles, wrappers, and thermocol cups. And if these small things didn’t matter, you had broken concrete blocks too.
According to locals, who are the most affected, the situation is worst during the tourist season when piles of garbage are found behind every shack, bushes and corner on the beach.
“It’s a mess during tourist season. Stacks of garbage are dumped at every possible spot on the beach,” Shawn Martins, an active member of a local social group told us.
“The problem is disastrous. The government thinks of a long term plan but these are always caught in bureaucratic hurdles. They should sort out this menace on priority,” Adinath Shirodkar, a restaurant owner said.
At the same time, Adinath Shirodkar and many others should really look in the mirror and ask if some of the fingers they point at the government should point them at. “The restaurants need to be part of the solution. Let them join the campaign to spread awareness, let them sort and segregate, let them not dump,” says a tourism official.
But Martins says that there is an urgent need of bins.
“When tourists come to the beach with water bottles, there is no place to dump. Left with no option, they dirty the beach. If a collective effort is taken by the government, the local panchayat body, tourism officials and citizens’ body the problem can easily be solved,” he added.
Some of the residents have come forward to join the cleaning campaign pending official formation of this group. They demand that a supervising agency be put in place to ensure the beaches are clean.
Water pipelines clogged: The Anna vaddo-Aradi Road stretch is no different to Calangute beach area. In fact, it is in a bad shape. The fields are filled with garbage and the water pipelines are also clogged. “Before preparing the field for the paddy cultivation, I clean the garbage that percolates through water pipelines or otherwise. The water pipes also get choked. People intentionally dump garbage here,” one of the very few existing farmers in the locality, Sachit Kandolkar told this reporter.
Aradi Nullah is a dumping site: Once beautiful, the Aradi nullah is now a garbage dumping site. The polluted water also flows into Nerul River, with which it is connected.
Team Herald found that garbage flows down the nullah till the river. Bushes next to the agriculture farms have also not been cleaned. The locals blame migrants living in the locality for the mess. They are now ‘Goa residents’ with proper ration and voting cards.
Irresponsible burning of garbage: Complaints that garbage at Aradi’s vast dumping site is not treated properly are regular. Debris is put to fire irresponsibly, even as houses in the close vicinity are the most sufferers. Herald Team saw that thick black trash bags were burnt along with other garbage lying in open.
This surely is a man-made disaster. The government’s guilt lies in not operating on a sick patient, but it is the people of Goa who have spread this killer virus.
