Hi Freddy, In the case of the coastline and the rise in the water-level, it ain't the Government's fault. They may have woken up late but the water is already eating up coastal properties. In fact a group of land-owners in Gonsua-Majorda sold their piece of land for 3Xcrs (the little bird tells me) because after every monsoon, they lost about 100 sq mts to the rising water.
I noticed from the days of my childhood in Utorda....the distance from land to water was way long. Maybe its my imagination. In Betalbatim, there are fork-lifts building walls along the coast line (a well-known builder known for dating the government) has a business which may get effected. On the northern side, if you walk along the Keri beach.........well, you cannot walk from one end, to the other. The sea comes up during high tide so the beach in effect is divided into two (my observation). This said, I did ask locals and every one is happily unaware in the rise of the sea-levels. They couldn't be bothered, they are Goan no? However, ask anyone in the department of agriculture and the ones in the know will tell you, the situation is alarming. Lets not forget the Gomant Lok Pox and the late Wilfad Antao who warned the government to stop the leases to the sea-sand miners from the big neighbouring state to the north; nobody ever did, even my family doctor from Cansaulim who was the Chief Minister at the time. So, along the Salcette coast line, its danger because the dunes would have protected the invading sea are gone. A few other indicatives: I spoke to a few folks in the fishing business (folks who run trawlers etc). They all say the sea is behaving strange. How? Well, for example, in the recent past, they used lead weights to keep the nets down....they say they've had to triple the weight because of the strange currents,which are swift and come unannounced. All this is close to the coast. I have recently returned from the Southern East coast with a friend who has been visiting the Pundacherry area for years: the beach there is cut in half. Mind you, the area was in the tsunami zone. However, from the beach to the water....the gradient is so steep, one could slide. Literally. ============================================= http://www.navhindtimes.in/opinion/erosion-goa-s-coastline Eroding Goan Coastline All of a sudden today, the Goa Government has got up from it's "Kumbkaran sleep" and is worried about the erosion of Goa's coastline, although more erosion has been caused by the man-made factors rather than by the natural phenomena's. Today Goa is on the brink of an environmental disaster due to it's excessive and open cast mining, hill cutting and land filling which have been intensified inexorably and due to the silting of our river beds, but our Government has shown no desire to act against the destructive forces but rather encouraged the destruction by it's lackluster attitude towards the environment.
