Goa’s beaches, once pristine and scenic, are now drowning in filth. Plastic, discarded fishing nets, and untreated waste being released into the sea are choking our coast. Fishermen are hauling in trash instead of fish, and the coliform content in the waters is 12 times above permissible limits. But it doesn’t have to end like this. Local communities are already recycling 240 tonnes of waste every month, but this is not enough considering the pressure of increasing population and dwindling resources.
If each one of us makes one small lifestyle change “ boycotting the use of plastic bags, joining a weekly beach clean-up drive, and demanding accountability from our politicians “ we can still turn the tide and make our state the Goa of yore, which had clean water, clean air, and clean beaches. These were the very things that made Goa beautiful and liveable. It is more than high time we turned back the clock.
