The Pomburpa spring has been a picnic spot for Goans for years and a tourist attraction as well. But now, with the increasing amount of garbage strewn all over the place, the whole attraction of visiting the spring has dimmed.
A few years ago, the tourism department spent a few crores in beautifying the location but all that has gone in vain. Tourists and locals alike, visit the spring and spend the day there. Once they leave, plastic and glass beverage and alcohol bottles, plates, forks, spoons, empty packets and other garbage is left in their wake. Though the tourism department has personnel to clean up the place there are no efforts being made, either by the department or the local panchayat, to pick up the garbage and dispose of it.
If this is a problem of co-ordination between the department and local bodies, then it is deplorable. There has to be some sort of cooperative movement in cases like this, to ensure that tourist places, no matter where they are located in Goa, are clean and devoid of any garbage. If this is a problem of security or garbage management, then the tourism department has to deal with it.
If the visitors, whether tourists or locals, are not being cooperative when it comes to properly disposing of their garbage, then the department or the government needs to set strict guidelines there. Either put a stop to plastic and glass, thereby effectively banning any form of bottles and packets, or charge people entry and a deposit for any item of plastic and glass that they carry into the premises. Either way, the government has to step in and lay down the law.
