Thar she rusts

This ship did not pass on in the night, and more three years later its wreckage threatens one of Goa’s most spectacular stretches of golden sand. As the River Princess alters the view and topography of the coastline between Fort Aguada and Baga, its 20,000 tonnes of rusting metal whisper warnings about the perils of a dithering local authority and darker rumours about collusion between the state’s government and shipping/mining magnates. As it stands, desolate and disintegrating, the ship provides a vantage point to assess the state government’s sincerity in safeguarding the coastline’s delicate ecology. It provides a test case of the challenges that Goa, fast upgrading itself to reap its immense tourism potential, faces from the shipping and mining lobbies.

The facts of the case are strikingly simple. As reported in The Sunday Express, the ship broke anchor during a storm in the monsoon season of 2000. Ever since it ran aground off Sinquerim beach, it has been an environmental disaster waiting to happen. The coastline is already affected — the ship has broken natural waves, resulting in a sand bank forming. The wreckage has already taken a toll on the livelihoods of the local fishing community. And each day that the River Princess remains stuck in this corner of the Arabian Sea increases the possibilities of its toxic contents of lead, asbestos and arsenic leaching into the water. The obvious solution, of course, would be for the ship to be towed away and broken for scrap. It is an idea the Goa government has full-throatedly echoed but, beyond passing a law to that effect, done little about by way of action. The ship’s owner, Anil Salgaoncar — quite oblivious of the social responsibilities that organisations like his bear — is resisting the move, considering it too expensive a proposition.

It is shocking that this stalemate has entered its fourth year. The controversy speaks of the clout the shipping industry wields, to the detriment of Goa’s ecology and its people. If this state of affairs continues much longer, it may not even be possible to tow the ship away cleanly. In that case, questions could well be asked whether the owners and the authorities colluded to irrevocably harm a valuable stretch of coastline.