Goa: Sernabatim beach steps reduced to rubble

COLVA: Steps leading to the Sernabatim beach, which were battered by heavy rainfall and choppy seas during the last monsoon, have been reduced to rubble this year even as government agencies continue to pass the buck over their maintenance.
TOI had highlighted the precarious condition of the steps last year, but Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) — the development vehicle of the state tourism department — claimed that maintaining them was the job of the water resources department (WRD).
The latter, in turn, said that it had not been informed about the deteriorating condition of the steps either by the local panchayat or any other government agency.
WRD’s executive engineer Ankush Gaonkar, while agreeing that such projects come under his purview, said he was not even aware that the steps to Sernabatim beach were built by his department and that they had collapsed. GTDC assistant engineer Vishad Pole, on the other hand, said they had been built and maintained by the WRD.
The steps at Sernabatim beach are just one of the several crumbling tourism infrastructure projects on beaches. Gazebos that dot the coast in South Goa have also been giving way and a number of fancy lamp posts have collapsed.
Even toilet blocks, like the one lying at Fatrade since May 2019, reel under neglect.