PANAJI:
It was an eventful evening in Goa as the first day of the #TeraMeraBeach campaign kicked off with a large number of tourists and visitors drumming to the rhythmic beats of the Djembes as the sun set over Baga beach, one of Goa’s most popular beaches.
Starting this month daily drum circles and a community art will be organised every evening between 4.30 pm to 5:30 pm on Goa’s coast in an effort to create an awareness on keeping beaches clean and to educate people about the importance of waste segregation. The innovative campaign will be spread across Baga, Calangute, Candolim, Miramar and Colva beaches.
Organised by Drishti Marine, the campaign was inaugurated by Michael Lobo, Deputy Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly; Director Goa Waste Management Corporation and MLA of Calangute constituency at Baga beach earlier today. Aimed at visitors to Goa especially domestic visitors, #TeraMeraBeach is a 150-day beach awareness campaign towards a cleaner Goa. The innovative campaign will be spread over Baga, Calangute, Candolim, Miramar and Colva beaches.
Through #TeraMeraBeach Drishti Marine in association with Taal Inc. will educate visitors on waste generation and waste management through music and art to raise awareness on keeping Goa’s beaches clean.
Speaking at the inaugural of the innovative campaign, said Michael Lobo , Deputy Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly; Director Goa Waste Management Corporation and MLA of Calangute constituency, “We reached out to Drishti to manage the waste on Goa’s beaches and they have done a good job. Now they have gone a step further and organised a 150 day campaign #TeraMeraBeach to educate people on waste management. I am thankful to Drishti for taking on this innovative initiative which will surely benefit us all.”
Explained Ravi Shankar, CEO, Drishti Marine, about the campaign “Starting today daily drum circles and a community art installation at Baga beach, one of Goa’s most popular beaches will be organised every evening between 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm in an effort to create an awareness on beach clean-up and teach people about the importance of waste segregation. Eventually the campaign will cover Baga, Calangute, Candolim, Miramar and Colva beaches.”
“The drum circle encourages participation from the public and drives awareness on multiple levels. Also the art installation encourages people to drive awareness on garbage management,” said Norine van Holstein, Program Manager, #TeraMeraBeach campaign.
The drumming activity lead by musicians from Taal Inc. will be followed by each participant of #TeraMeraBeach adding one piece from the collected waste to the community art installation. The art installation will consist of bottles, cans, papers, cloth etc. collected by the participants during the clean-up drive.
Apart from Baga beach, this campaign will also cover Calangute, Candolim, Miramar and Colva beaches and is supported by Goa Tourism, Video Volunteers, Museum of Goa and Veab to raise awareness on keeping Goa’s beaches clean.
In a bid to improve the cleanliness on Goa’s beaches, the state government had reached out to Drishti Marine in December 2016 to step in and assist with garbage collection along the beaches on a temporary basis to support the effort of the government. Accordingly, Drishti Marine has offered its assistance and mobilized manpower and equipment for clearing garbage from the beaches of Goa and the same is transported to the Saligao Waste Management plant. The agency has an existing framework which includes infrastructure and management capability to effectively carry out the exercise along the beaches. The garbage collected is segregated at source into dry waste, wet waste and sea waste and then transported to the Waste Management plant at Saligao once a day. Garbage is being collected from the following beaches:
South: Baina, Bogmollo, Velsao, Hollant, Arrosim, Majorda, Utorda, Betalbatim, Colva, Benaulim, Varca, Zalor, Cavellosim, Mobor, Agonda, Pallolem, Patnem, Rajbagh, Talpona, Galgibag and Pollem.
North: Querim, Arambol, Ashwem, Mandrem, Morjim, Vagator, Anjuna, Baga, Calangute, Candolim, Sinquerim, Miramar, Vaiguinim, Donapaula, Siridao and Bambolim.
Since 17th December 2016 till 31st October 2017 the agency has collected and transported over 7,54,970 kgs of garbage from along the state’s coast and cleaned the beaches.
The collection of the garbage takes place during the day between 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. Workers are given gloves, masks and safety jackets as a part of the process laid down by the company.
