Shaped like the new moon, beaches of Goa are known across the world and attracts lakhs of tourists every year. But the pathetic condition of the coastline is forcing people to think whether it is worth frequenting the beaches since they are welcomed by filth, which is a nuisance.
Whether it is a local or a tourist, people feel disheartened when they see they can’t enjoy nature’s beauty without having to worry about the garbage or cattle on the beaches. Fed up with the situation, lifeguards, shack operators and officials had complained to the tourism department in January this year about trash piling up on the beaches.
It has also been observed that the beach cleaning contractor is struggling to collect the garbage on a daily basis due to insufficient manpower. The dirty beaches are a problem for ramponkars.
Recently, frustrated over the State government’s negligence towards cleaning the Caranzalem beach, ramponkars raised concerns on the deteriorating state of the serene beach.
They said every year they clean the beach by themselves without any government’s help and the contractor, who was supposed to clean the entire beach, has failed to do his job properly.
The fisher folks proposed that the government can give them the contract of cleaning the beach as they have been doing it for years.
Speaking to O Heraldo, Manuel Po, Secretary, Caranzalem Ramponkar’s Association, said, “There are a lot of problems. Every year, during monsoon, a lot of garbage gets accumulated at the beach. It is the duty of those who have taken contracts from the government to clean the beaches. But nothing is being done. The beach is not being cleaned. So we decided to clean the garbage which accumulated during the rains. We hired private earth movers to clean the beach and spent around Rs 2 lakh on cleaning the beach.”
Po said the beach has to be cleaned throughout the year and not for a few months.
Former President of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), Savio Messias said, “One of the main reasons why tourists are coming to Goa is the beaches. It is sad that the beaches are not maintained. The maintenance is okay in some places, but very poor in most of the areas. In South Goa it is being maintained to a great extent by the hoteliers. All the five star hotels clean the beaches too. The contractor who has been assigned the work of cleaning the beaches should be questioned by the Tourism Department.”
“Some beaches are very dirty. What happens is that, during monsoon all the garbage from the hills come to the sea. During high tide, so much garbage gets accumulated that you cannot clean it. It comes from the hills as well as the dump sites. For example, at Sada, the dump site is on the slopes. So the garbage goes into the sea. Earlier it was very economical when the cleaning was being done by the panchayats,” he said.
Messias said it is not only the beaches which need to be cleaned, but also the approach roads which connect the beaches too require attention.
“We are fed up with this problem as we know that nothing will be done and that is why the star hotels have taken up the responsibility to clean the beaches. As there are more five star hotels in South Goa, many beach stretches are clean. Every five star hotel cleans the area in front of it,” he said.
“In North Goa there are problems. Licenses are issued to even wholesalers so that tourists can buy liquor cans or bottles. But in the process, the beaches get littered with trash. This arbitrary sale of liquor should not be allowed,” he said.
He suggested that if things are not working, then the government should charge some amount of money but ensure that the beaches are clean.
Roland Martins, Co-ordinator, GOACAN, said, “One key feature for attracting tourists to a beach destination is the cleanliness of its beaches, which unfortunately is on the decline in Goa.”
“For the beaches to remain clean, it is important for the Goa Tourism Department to put in place an action plan that not only holds the waste management contractor accountable for the maintaining the beaches, but also takes into confidence the various stakeholders like beach shack licence holders, water sports operators, guest house owners among others,” he said.
“Moreover, it is also important for the department to take the coastal village panchayats into confidence on strategies to keep the beaches clean. The Goa Tourism Department needs to provide updates on the use of its Beach Vigil app and put in place an effective beach cleanliness campaign starting September 27, which is observed as World Tourism Day, lest it faces consumer complaints for deficiency of service during this forthcoming tourism season,” he said.
Shack Owners Welfare Society (SOWS) Goa President, Cruz Cardozo said, “During the monsoon, the beaches are always dirty as the trash dumped in the sea gets washed ashore. The beaches are cleaned, but are not up to the mark. Government has given the contract to clean the beaches, so it is the duty of the contractor to clean them and the Tourism Department should monitor it. Only giving contracts is not enough.”
Joaquim Silveira, a former contractor from Cortalim, said, “The condition of beaches is worse than earlier. The beaches are not being cleaned properly. Around 6–7 years back, the Tourism Department used to deploy labourers on its own and cleaning was done manually. But what is happening now is that big vehicles with four or five people sitting in are being driven on the beaches to collect garbage. But in the process, micro-organisms found on the beaches are being destroyed. These micro-organisms are food for fish.”
“What I think is that the collection of garbage should be done manually and not mechanically, as it destroys flora and fauna of the beaches. Vehicles should not be allowed to enter the beaches. The moment a huge vehicle enters the beach, organisms in the sand are destroyed,” Silveira said.
“There are no sand dunes now and the water directly enters land. Now everything is destroyed. The cleaning work should be done by locals, who know the beaches of Goa and not by the companies which are based in other parts of the country. They may have expertise in cleaning at other places, but Goa is different. The beaches in Goa are very delicate. You cannot run machines on them. If you bring people from outside who do not know about Goa, this will happen,” he added.
“What happens, only those items which have saleable value are collected and the rest of the things are ignored. The terms and conditions mentioned in the tender are not followed. Only 2 to 5 per cent conditions are followed and rest are ignored. Unfortunately, there is no system in place to monitor how the beaches are cleaned,” Silveira added.
“Now it seems that the Tourism Department is least bothered about what is happening on the beaches,” he said.
However, the State Tourism Department has re-floated a tender to hire a new agency for beach cleaning contracts in the State.
The agency will be required to offer a wide range of services for cleaning of the various beaches in Goa including collection, segregation, transportation and disposal of garbage etc for a period of five years.
Five years ago, in October 2019, the department had awarded the beach cleaning contract to Bengaluru-based firm Karnataka Commercial and Industrial Corporation (KCIC) Pvt Ltd. KCIC’s contract with the tourism department had ended in mid-2023, but they were given extension till such time that a new agency was appointed.
The KCIC was tasked with carrying out beach-cleaning services across 37 major beaches in the state. However, in January this year, the tourism stakeholders, including shack owners, had complained of beach cleaning standard dropping and the contractor allegedly not being able to cope up with the pace of discarding of garbage on coastline by tourists visiting the State.
According to the details available on Goa government’s e-tender website www.eprocure.goa.gov.in, the last date of submission of the duly filled technical bid and the financial bid is on September 13, 2024. Garbage will be collected, segregated, transported, and disposed off. The beach cleaning job would have to be carried out from 6 am to noon and from 4 pm to 8 pm through scientific planning and the deployment of essential labour, machinery, supervising staff etc.
The scope of work includes manual cleaning, segregation, transportation, and administration of beach cleanliness in beach lengths, approach roads, beach shacks, beach entrances, and any other sites within the defined beach region, according to the department.
Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte had informed the State Assembly in July this year that the Tourism Department had received permission from the finance department for a beach safety tender.
The minister had assured the House that the new agency for cleaning the beaches would be in place before the start of tourism season in September.
Interestingly, last year the Opposition had cornered Rohan Khaunte on the beach cleaning issue, reminding him that while being in the opposition it was he who had demanded a probe into the contract.
In 2017, the then Lokayukta had taken suo moto cognizance of complaints filed by Advocate Aires Rodrigues, Porvorim MLA Rohan Khaunte and Suraj Borkar, who had alleged that the beach cleaning project was a multi-crore scam. The Lokayukta had recommended the state government to re-open the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) probe into the case and also suggested the State government to consider the question of referring the matter to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). However, things changed after Khanute joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led-government under the chief ministership of late Manohar Parrikar.
What has been disturbing is that beach cleaning is not given the importance it deserves. The issue has been controversial for many years. Two years back, Khaunte himself had accepted that the beaches were not being cleaned properly and he was receiving several complaints about it. However, one can hope that at least after the new agency is appointed, the beaches would be cleaned every day.