MARGAO
Will Sao Jose de Areal villagers give their green signal to the Railways to execute the track doubling project passing through the village? Sunday gram sabha called by the Sarpanch Perris D'Costa is expected to take a final call on the contentious issue as the villagers in the past had come out openly to oppose the project.
Sarpanch Perris told The Goan that the gram sabha scheduled on Sunday will deliberate only on the single point of track doubling project. The meeting, which will start at 10 am on Sunday will deliberate on the proposal mooted by the Railways to acquire land admeasuring 3,000-odd square metres of land in the village for the proposed project before adopting a resolution. "The panchayat had in the past forwarded a petition signed by the villagers to the various authorities, including the Railways, opposing the project. This is the first time the contentious issue will be deliberated at length at the special gram sabha especially convened to deliberate and take a decision on the issue," Perris said.
Sao Jose de Areal villagers had on more than one occasion conveyed its firm opposition to the land acquisition by the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd to lay a second track passing through the village. Making matters worse for the Railways was the goof up by the authorities when they served consent letters to a large number of villagers, even though their land was not required for the track doubling project.
The joint inspection held at the Areal railway station last month is a clear indication that villagers are opposed to the project after they scuttled plans by the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd to demarcate the land required for the track doubling project.
The people of Areal are apprehensive that the project will only destroy their fields and create various pollution issues, also fearing a rise in migrants.
