MARGAO
Asserting that the government is serious in addressing beach erosion, Environment Minister Aleixo Sequeira on Friday said the government is awaiting a final report from the deliberations of the two-day national workshop on capacity building to contain beach erosion before chalking out the future course of action.
He said the two-day national workshop on capacity building for erosion study held last week in Goa has put up various scenarios how to go about the job of restoration of the eroded beaches. “We have to now wait for the ultimate report, which will guide the government in which direction to go on the issue,” he said.
Saying the government is serious in addressing the issue of beach erosion, Sequeira fears that the erosion, if goes unchecked, will leave the ground water saline. “If we allow beach erosion, we will not only lose land, but more importantly, our wells will turn saline if the water ingress goes unchecked,” he added.
Asked whether any solutions have been found at the two-day workshop, the Environment Minister said “unfortunately, the people from Netherland-based firm Deltares could not make it for the national workshop since they were denied visas by the government of India. Hence, we had go to virtual. I was toying with the idea of postponing the national workshop, but we finally decided to go forward after experts from various parts of the country had already descended in the State.”
He added: Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is committed to arrest the beach erosion taking place in the State. We have decided to start somewhere and take it forward. We are waiting for the final report before the government takes some concrete steps for beach restoration.”
Meanwhile, the Environment Minister has said Goa is far better that the pollution level in the National capital. He, however, hastened to add that the government is committed to further improving the pollution levels in the State.
