Unusual black powder and pieces suspected of being charcoal particles have begun to wash up along Goa’s beaches, leading to speculation that imported charcoal being handled in the port of Mormugao was headed for the beaches of Goa. state.
Two separate instances of the dark particles were found: in South Goa along Benaulim Beach by fishermen and water sports operators, as well as in Querim Beach in North Goa by environmental activist Claude Alvares, who held chunks of a black solid that resembled coal.
“We noticed it yesterday for the first time, the black particulate matter that was different from the tar balls,” said Pele Fernandes, a watersports operator from Benaulim beach.
“Some tourists asked me what it is and I had to say I don’t know, although I suspected it was coal because I was afraid they would not visit the beach again,” said Fernandes.
Speaking of his find, Goa Foundation director Claude Alvares said that the coal that crawled along Goa’s beaches was “only because the loading and unloading operations at MPT are still very primitive.”
The news comes even as protests in Goa have escalated against the double tracking of a railway line believed to only be used to transport more coal from the port to the interior.
At its peak, around 12-14 million metric tons of coal were imported from Indonesia and Australia through the port of Mormugao, which has since been down to around 9-10 million metric tons of coal this year. Coal is loaded and unloaded from ships in the open air, allowing the wind to carry coal dust into the surrounding town of Vasco da Gama and into bodies of water, including the sea.
Previously, a study published in 2019 by researchers from IIT-Kharagpur and the National Institute of Oceanography in Goa who were studying the presence of mercury in Goa’s waters had found a “dark black dust from the adjacent beaches of the Mandovi River” in whose The mercury concentration in this black powder was found to be 200.5 ± 5.0 micrograms per kg, which, they said, could explain the higher concentration of mercury in the Mandovi waters, which was similar to the concentration of mercury in the coal obtained from the port of Mormugao.
“The physical appearance of black powder was very similar to that of fine carbon particles. Scanning electron microscope images also support that the black powder was carbon particles. However, more research is required to identify the sources of this fine black particle associated with a high concentration of Hg, ”the study noted.
The government of Goa has publicly pledged to reduce coal imports and Prime Minister Pramod Sawant assured that the state will not be allowed to become a “coal hub” for importing coal for the steel industries in the states. neighbors.
“I assure you that the importation and handling of coal will be reduced by 50 percent. We will reduce carbon and we are in the process of stopping it as soon as possible. We cannot stop it completely. The industries are (have been running) for 40 years, ”Sawant said Sunday.
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