For the second time this monsoon, Goa’s beaches were covered with tar balls, sparking fears of an off shore oil spill. By Tuesday morning, South Goa’s Colva beach — a popular tourist spot that also houses a couple of five star hotels — were covered with hardened tar balls that were almost 4cm thick at places.
Tar balls were also seen, though in smaller density, at North Goa’s Calangute and Candolim beaches.
While the state tourism department still does not have a reason for the sudden appearance of tar balls, locals say that the oily substance started accumulating at the Colva beach from Monday afternoon. NGOs and social activists feel that ships anchored off the state’s coast might have been discharging oil in the sea. Social activist Mrs Judith Almeida said that it was high time the government did something about ships polluting the state’s coastline. “The tourism department should take this issue seriously and the ships responsible should be pulled up. No one has the right to pollute our environment and ecology like this,” she said.
“We have sent teams to the beaches where the tar balls have appeared,” tourism department director Mr Swapnil Naik said.