MARGAO
It was 11 am on Wednesday. Betalbatim’s Sunset beach “ picnicker’s paradise “ played host to a Goan family huddled around with kids playing under a casuarina tree.
Right down on the beach was a lone lifeguard sitting on a chair under an umbrella as a red flag fluttered on the beach, a warning to the people not to venture out in the sea due to rough weather conditions. Little further down on the bushy sand dune, dotting with trees, a group of locals were all huddled in front of a Cross for an annual thanksgiving Litany for the Almighty, while a posse of tourist police was on a routine foot patrol along the beach stretch.
While everything looked normal, a week after a young 20-year-old girl from Salcete was gang-raped on the sand dune overlooking the beach, a propaganda vehicle was seen moving on the narrow hot-mixed roads with an appeal to the villagers to attend a public meeting at the village social club on Thursday morning.
The meeting has been ostensibly convened to condemn the heinous gang-rape as well as to take stock of the situation and initiate measures to stop such incidents in the future.
A casual look at the Sunset beach reveals there’s absolutely no illumination on the sand dune dotting with casuarina trees and vegetation. A lone electric pole with an LED lamp stands on the sand dune near the entrance to the beach. It wasn’t clear whether the LED lamp was functioning or not, but certainly the lone lamp was grossly inadequate to illuminate the huge sand dune running parallel to the beach stretch.
Locals say while a high mast lamp stands tall near the Nanu beach resort stretch, the isolated stretch along the Sunset beach has no illumination worth its name.
Given that the sunset beach attracts couples and picnickers alike given the isolated nature of the beach dotting with trees and vegetation cover, no warning board is seen anywhere around cautioning the visitors not to stay around late on the beach in the absence of round the clock police patrolling.
Betalbatim village sarpanch Constancio Miranda told The Goan that it was shocking and most unfortunate that the rape incident took place on the beach in the village. While admitting that the sunset beach is bereft of any illumination, he said the Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) officials had a couple of days ago come with a proposal to illuminate the beach.
The Sarpanch, however, hastened to add that the GTDC officials had approached the panchayat some months
ago, but lamented that the illumination of the sunset beach stretch is yet to see light of the day.
On the installation of warning boards at the entrance to the sunset beach, the sarpanch said the panchayat had decided to install the boards at the Sunset and other isolated beach stretches just to sound a warning to the visitors.
“The meeting scheduled on Thursday morning will discuss a host of issues arising out of the rape incident. The local MLA Wilfred D’Sa has also been invited for the meeting,” he said.
Betalbatim village is also facing the issue of migrants putting up in the village in rented premises. A couple of years ago, Betalbatim had witnessed an uproar after a migrant stabbed a local girl. Since then, the migrant issue had figured at almost all the gram sabha meetings with local villagers clamouring for action on the growing presence of migrants in the village.
“The panchayat had decided to issue identity cards to the migrants putting up in the village. The identity cards were mooted as villagers complained that migrants are found on the streets in the late night hours,” he said.
