Sumitra KC
Goa, a beautiful State where everyone wishes to visit once in their life. But gradually, the State is losing its beauty due to the garbage problem and It’s increasing day by day. Wherever you go, you will find plastic littered along the roadside. People pass by those roads but ignore it. But there are some people who are concerned about their environment and have taken initiative to clean the garbage mess.
Dr Swayamsidha Andhale, a resident of Milroc Kadamba and an ENT surgeon by profession decided to take a progressive drive at the Old Goa bypass. During her MBBS course she didn’t get the time to take up issue seriously and carry out a clean up drive. She always wished to do it because she feels that we as citizens owe something to our nature and cannot afford to wait for the government to do it.
“As I grew up I felt blessed to be a Goan because we were known for cleanliness. But for the last few years the picture has changed drastically,” she says. Whenever she travels to work she used to see plastic bags, bottles etc littered on the streets, and realised that our beautiful land was losing its charm. Dr Swayamsidha along with her sister cleaned a huge stretch along the Miramar beach and this motivated them to organise the cleanliness drive on a larger scale. So, with the support of all the people in the society they took up the cleanliness drive along the Old Goa stretch. They cleaned the either side of the road as well as divider. Also, one of the member of the team educated the slum dwellers, who reside along this stretch, about garbage disposal. The Panch of their locality Prakash Amonkar arranged vehicle for disposal of the collected garbage. She informed us that she is in talks with the panchayat to maintain the cleanliness in the form of putting up boards and having one person to do a regular check of the area that has been cleaned.
Similarly, Rajesh Bhalchandra Bandekar, a news reader at All India Radio says that when he saw a picture of all the trash littered on the Morjim beach, it made him take an initiative to carry out a cleanliness drive at the place. Rajesh has volunteered before for many other clean up drives, mostly in Morjim area with the local Village Panchayat. However, many times, the cleanliness drive do not produce lasting effects. An area which is cleaned up, becomes dirty again after some time. Rajesh agrees that the beach will be littered again as many tourist visit during summers, but they have decided to clean it and have requested the government bodies to install dustbins at various points on the beach.
There is also a unique #TeraMeraBeach campaign which runs during the tourists season ie from January to April. Through the #TeraMeraBeach campaign Drishti Marine aims to educate people, especially visitors on cleanliness and beach management along the coastal stretch through music and art to raise awareness on keeping Goa’s beaches clean. Another unique feature of this campaign is that the visitors at the beach traded waste as currency against beverages and sundowners. Ravi Shankar, CEO, Drishti Marine explains, “We ran an extremely successful campaign over 150 days in the last tourist season and the present season with an intention to create awareness on beach clean-up and teach people about the importance of waste segregation. We made a significantly positive impact on that front and hence have decided to run the campaign each year. Running from January till April, the campaign features beach clean- ups and spreads awareness in an engaging manner”. Plastic straws, cigarette butts and bottle caps were used as currency. In exchange for 20 cigarette butts or 10 bottle caps (aluminium or plastic) or 5 used plastic straws one could avail of a beverage. The evenings at the waste bar featured musicians using innovative instruments created from waste and a waste parade where participants created innovative costumes and headgears using discarded waste. The Waste Bar popped up in various venues in the last few months between 4pm and 6pm along the beach stretch. Project Manager Noreen van Holstein who conceptualized the campaign and partnered with Drishti Marine on #TeraMeraBeach said, “The response last season was phenomenal with visitors
and tourists coming forward to
participate and taking back the awareness that it is the responsibility of each of us to keep our beaches clean. This year we introduced the unique waste-bar concept where people can trade using waste as currency. We want to drive the message that trash has value “ if collected and segregated properly. We are also trying to help beach shacks to reduce the use of disposable plastic like straws and make the transition to being a more sustainable operation.”
Its not just the roads or the beaches but also the springs that one needs to take care of .The spring is the natural beauty of Merces village and it was getting neglected due to interference of real estate players. So, with the help of local authorities to prevent and preserve this spring, Merces Manch Welfare Association members came to clean up the area and show to the people that there is a spring. The Merces Manch Welfare Association has conducted many clean up drives in paddy fields in low lying areas which were filled with garbage. The villagers of Merces underline that it is important to preserve the spring for future generations, else it will be destroyed forever if neglected.
