
Panaji, March 12 (IANS) Goa will rope in the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) to conduct a study on the carrying capacity of the state's popular in a bid to control pollution and the rampant proliferation of beach shacks.
Speaking to reporters at the Goa State Pollution Control Board headquarters in Panaji on Thursday, the board's chairman Jose Noronha said a new mechanism was being evolved to set up clean, paid public toilets on popular beach stretches.
"There may be too many shacks on the beaches. The carrying capacity of the beaches itself should be studied. The board had decided to ask NIO to study the carrying capacity of the beaches to understand how many shacks could be ideally put on a particular stretch of beach," he said.
Located in Goa, the NIO is a central government agency which functions under the aegis of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.
Noronha said the study would look at issues related to sewage management and solid waste management in relation to beach shacks.
Several hundreds of beach shacks cater to the over three million tourists who arrive in Goa annually. The shacks are licenced every tourist season and have to be dismantled with the advent of the monsoon.
Noronha said that in view of several complaints about unhygienic toilets in the beach shacks, a paid public toilet system had been proposed by the board.
"We have received a lot of complaints regarding toilet facilities in shacks. We are looking if we can have a common toilet facility on a paid basis, which can be shared by 10-15 shacks," he said.
The facility would have to be maintained by the state tourism department, he added.
Noronha said a study involving the carrying capacity of Goa's rivers would also soon be undertaken in view of the increasing marine traffic as well as river-oriented tourism and infrastructure projects.
"We have asked the environment department of Goa to study the carrying capacity of our rivers," he said.
He said the decision was taken in view of the large number of projects proposed in Goa like house boats, jetties, marinas, pontoons, berthing points for trawlers and boats.
The baseline study, Noronha said, would help determine "how much (infrastructure) we can allow on which stretch" and would help measure water quality and examine the water bodies for contaminants.
Last week, nine soldiers and 20 extremists were killed in armed attacks on FC headquarters in Bal
43 days have passed since the Russo-Ukraine war. Meanwhile, Ukrainian media has claimed that the
Big screen superstars also rule the hearts of television audiences. While they may not be part of
CUET UG: Technical flaws in CUET are not a setback, no hurry to merge JEE and NEET - UGC Chairman
According to UGC chairman Jagdish Kumar, technical glitches in the initial stages of the Common U
Re-Name monkeypox: Panic in New York due to monkeypox, WHO demands change of name
The fear of monkeypox is increasing in front of the world battling the corona epidemic. New York
To end the Corona epidemic, the campaign to apply the vaccine has started. The world's largest va
India's first real-time gold ATM has been launched in Hyderabad. This GoldSikka ATM dispenses gol
Bihar to skill up one crore youth by 2020: Nitish
Patna, March 28 (IANS) The Bihar government is planning to skill up one crore youth in the stat
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi reached Kolhapur in Maharashtra on Saturday. In Kolhapur, Rahul Gand
Things seem to be changing in the first week of the new year itself and cold has wreaked havoc in