Team Herald
MARGAO: Tourism Minister Manohar alias Babu Ajgaonkar on Monday said tar balls will be removed and all the beaches will be cleaned within the next two days.
Speaking to the media persons at Margao, Ajgaonkar said the department has already initiated the process to clean the beaches.
“Yes, lots of tarballs are seen on several beaches across the State. We will clean the beaches within the next two days and the work has already started”, the minister said.
He said the government especially the Tourism Department is very much serious on keeping the beaches clean.
“Goan beaches are famous across the globe and lakhs of international tourists visit Goa to enjoy the beaches. Hence, beaches need to be kept clean”, Ajgaonkar said.
He said, “The tarball issue is very serious and we need to find out the solution to get rid of this problem.”
It is pertinent to note that since the last few days, tar balls got washed ashore along the North and South Goa beaches. Many fishermen have expressed surprise over the presence of the tar balls during monsoon.
It may be recalled that the presence of tar balls on Anjuna Beach caused inconvenience to the visitors especially the locals while immersing Lord Ganesh idols.
Besides tarballs, oil spillage too was reported in the sea. The locals had tough time in immersing the idols as the beach was covered with tar balls.
The locals said the oil spillage is an annual feature wherein vessels release the oil into the sea and blamed the Chief Minister and Ports Minister for not initiating any action.
