MARGAO
The weekend saw a rush of visitors to the Colva beach as well as devotees partaking in the Ganesh immersion ceremony on day 5 of Ganesh festivities, but the world-class beach was simply in darkness sans illumination neither on the shore nor at the beach square.
Take note, the shore as well as the beach square has been experiencing illumination issues for some time now, but questions have come to the fore why temporary illumination was not put in place at least at the two bridges leading to the beach and on the shore for the visarjan ceremony.
One could come across devotees conducting the religious ceremony on the beach with mobile torch lights. A look at the surroundings revealed that the two high mast lamps were non-functional at 7 pm. The Drishti life tower was found illuminated, throwing up a simple question of why a couple of temporary lamps were not put in place for the five-day immersion ceremony on Sunday.
That’s not all. There was complete darkness at the two bridges leading to the beach and the visitors had to either seek the help of their mobile torch or the illumination from the adjoining fast food mobile kiosks to return safely from the shore.
The entire beach square was no different with the temporary lamps put in place on poles hardly sufficient to illuminate the massive place.
By 7.30 pm, the high mast on the beach square, right near the entrance, was found illuminated. Sadly, only two out of the total lamps were functional, indicating that the high mast lamp did not prove to be of much help to the visitors and devotees.
Incidentally, after media reports that the lamps had come crashing down from the poles on the beach, the lamps have gone missing. Again, after the death of the Rajasthan tourist due to electrocution, the lamps and the lamp poles near the toilet block and changing rooms have been dismantled and lifted away.
