Need to stem erosion that’s reducing Goa’s beaches: Tourism Minister

Government data revealed that 19.2 per cent of the state’s nearly 100 km long coastline faced the threat of erosion

Goa’s beaches, the most important tourist draw, are being washed away into the sea due to erosion, state tourism minister Rohan Khaunte informed the state legislative assembly on Thursday.

In the assembly’s ongoing monsoon session, Khaunte said that the government was in the process of identifying technology that could help stem the erosion of the beaches.

“There is the challenge of sea erosion. It is a threat the way it is taking place…We have given permission to 346 shacks, however they are not able to occupy (at some of the locations), as beaches have washed out,” Khaunte told the assembly.

Government data revealed that 19.2 per cent of the state’s nearly 100 km long coastline—which attracts nearly eight million tourists to the state every year—faced the threat of erosion. This included some of the most popular beaches in the state such as Anjuna, Keri-Tiracol, and Morjim in north Goa and Agonda, Betalbatim, and Majorda in south Goa.

According to the state water resources department, as many as 19 beaches face the threat of erosion, which the experts on global warming as well as the indiscriminate development along the state’s coastline.

Khaunte said there was an immediate need to adopt new technology that could arrest the erosion of sand from the beaches and other coastal areas. “We can adopt technologies to ensure that we get our surface back. A techno-commercial concept can be adopted with the help of the environment and other departments,” Khaunte said.

Last year, chief minister Pramod Sawant had said the government was in the process of identifying an environmental agency to examine, as well as help develop measures to contain, the damage caused to the state’s beaches by the erosion.

With the mining industry shut for the last four years in view of a Supreme Court order, tourism, fuelled by Goa’s prowess as a beach tourism destination, was the key revenue generator for the state government.