A walk along the seashore was onceconsidered a ‘thing to do’, a meeting of friends, or an evening activity whereromance would blossom, but a trip down the coastline now may turn thatleisurely walk into a sprint in the opposite direction.
Whether through ignorance or plaincallousness, the beaches of the state are, in increasing numbers, beginning tosee a lot of garbage being strewn along the coast. When asked about thismenace, Regi D’Souza, a partner with a popular shack on the northern coastalbelt responds, “People like to claim that the tourists are responsible forlittering the area. Yet, we see many locals contributing to the menace. Weensure though, that as far as we can, we do not permit any garbage to be foundin the surrounding areas.” It has become a practice of this sort on certainpopular beaches to have contractors hired by shack owners to clean the beach ona daily or at least weekly basis to have items such as wrappers and plasticbottles cleared.
But stopping the rot, while being anexcellent step in itself, is not enough. The damage that has already been done needsto be attended to. An initiative undertaken by a group of young individuals in2011 saw them spending their Sundays in an attempt to purge the sand of litter.David Aguiar, one of the unofficial leaders points out, “If we wait for actionto be taken, but don’t do so ourselves, it may never come to pass. As people ofthe land, we are not only safeguarding our interests, but our future. On aSunday, we keep ourselves free, and select a beach that we think needs to be sprucedup. Ultimately, this is our home, so why shouldn’t we ensure that it is wellkept?”
Preserving the ecological balance hasbeen considered tricky at the easiest of times, and a time such as this, whenconstant check of this balance is required, awareness needs to be generated ofboth the issue at hand and its effects, as well as how best one can ensure thatsteps are taken to rectify the problem.
