Colva beach turns into dumping ground

Garbage and poor management has been one of the major causes effecting tourism.  The larger effect of all this is the effect all this has on the environment. The rains will come very soon and wash all this into the sea. Then we wonder why the rising sea levels and the storms ? 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Colva-beach-turns-into-dumping-ground/articleshow/52457483.cms

It may be popular as the queen of South Goa beaches , but Colva’s shoreline is far from regal. Littered indiscriminately with plastic and other waste by the hordes of visitors it attracts, the once pristine beach now resembles a dumping ground. A children’s play area in the vicinity is in a shambles, too. Rusted and broken, the swing, slide and see-saw there are more of a hazard to young kids than a means of recreation. Visitors also complain of lack of toilets and changing rooms, and an unbearable stench emanating from the nearby creek that itself is choked byheaps of garbage .

“Although we feel embarrassed to change in the open, we have no option but to ask other women to hold a towel or sheet around us while we change our clothes. To add our woes is the absence of toilets. There were a couple of toilets here before, which later needed some renovation, but they were demolished instead,” said senior citizen Veena Menezes , who visits the beach for her annual salt water baths. Colva, incidentally, is thronged by several senior citizens from across the state for whom such baths in the summer have become something of a tradition.

The most saddening aspect of the beach, several visitors pointed out, is the heaps of garbage that it reels under. School teacher Savio Rodrigues, who recently made a trip there, said he was “shocked and disgusted” to see large amounts of waste strewn all over the sand. The state of the nearby children’s play area, too, was pathetic, he said, fearing for the safety of the many kids who are still attracted to the decrepit and rusted swing, see-saw and merry-go-round.

“Metres away from the park, one also gets a bad odour from the creek,” Rodrigues pointed out, adding that locals alleged the water body had long been contaminated by sewage discharged from a number of hotels and restaurants operating in the area, sans the knowledge of the authorities. “As thousands of tourists visit this beach, shouldn’t they go back with fond memories?” he asked rhetorically.

While locals insist that they have tried to convince the powers-that-be to right all the wrongs at Colva beach , all they get are indolent responses, they claim.

A number of them even accuse the authorities of passing the buck in the matter.