The results of the 2023 'Swachh Survekshan' cleanliness survey, undertaken by the Central government, have placed Goa in 13th position, down from its previous ranking of 10th position (TGE, January 12). Next year may be even worse for Goa, judging by the poor hygiene prevailing all over the State. Almost every week, newspapers highlight photographs showing garbage being dumped indiscriminately along roadsides, on a well-organised scale, by trucks and private vehicles.
Then, we have the perennial curse of the Sonsoddo dumping ground, with leakage of leachate onto the streets, which has defied solutions and put public health in jeopardy. Of late, there have been reports of raw sewage from overflowing sewage chambers being pumped into the fields. Our rivers and nullahs are also polluted with floating debris and untreated sewage.
A recent survey by the Goa State Pollution Board has revealed that most of the beach shacks do not have sewage treatment and are discharging their kitchen wastewater and sewage into the sea, thereby polluting the beaches.
What a sad picture indeed of how our once beautiful Goa is being systematically destroyed under the very noses of those put in charge of the environment and pollution control.
