Authorities in Goa have decided to send the slimy tar balls collected from various beaches in Goa will be sent to Oil refineries in order to avoid further pollution caused by disposing them on an open field.

Nilkant Halarnkar, Goa Tourism minister expressed that “truck loads of tar balls collected from several beaches in Goa will be sent to refineries instead of disposing them off in open fields or elsewhere.”

He further said that the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) has asuured that these tar balls do not cause pollution but the government did not want to take any chance by disposing them in open areas.

Tar balls usually appear on Goa beaches every year but the volume is much larges this year. The Tar balls started appearing last Monday and continued for a week and most affected beaches were in South Goa.

The minister added that the government as asked the Coastguard, Navy and NIO to evaluate the issue is detail. He citied a ship dumping oil in the international waters as the cause of the increased volume and expressed that the state government does not have authority over international waters and defense forces could help look into the issue.

Mr. Halarnkar also brushed off concerns that the appearance of the balls will effect tourist season which will begin in October.