Tourism land at Colva turns into beach waste storage

Colva: Beach goers at Colva are being greeted to tonnes of garbage filled plastic bags stored on land owned by the tourism department.
The government-appointed beach cleaning agency has been instructed by the tourism department to utlise this space for storing the waste that will be subsequently transported to the treatment plant, an official stated.
“Dry waste such as nets, plastic as well as cloth waste entangled in nets are collected and stored in plastic bags at the site for transportation,” stated an official of the Karnataka Commercial and Industrial Corporation (KCIC), the agency tasked with beach cleaning operations.
Besides this, seaweed and discarded sandbags are also being dumped at the site.
The land adjoins the nearby children’s park where massive erosion has destroyed two gazebos and some decorative electrical lamps.
The beach cleaning official said that there is a restriction on accepting discarded nets at the treatment plant. “These nets have to be cut into smaller pieces, only then these are accepted by the plant. So our workers in their spare time cut the nets, segregate other waste from it and then transport the material,” said the beach cleaning personnel.
“Since the onset of the monsoon, unprecedented quantities of seaweed washed ashore all along the coastal belt. Our labour force was collecting almost 400 bags a day. However, the treatment plant does not accept it, so we have to store the waste in this area, and with time it disintegrates. Large quantities of tree wood have also washed ashore this monsoon. This is transported to the designated area near the treatment plant at Saligao,” he added.