Margao meet issues statewide call for stir to ‘save Goa’; April 16 hearing seen as crucial
Historian Prajal Sakhardande making a point at a media briefing after giving a call to the people of Goa to come on the railway tracks to oppose the track doubling project.
MARGAO
Historian Prajal Sakhardande on Saturday gave a call to the people of Goa to come on the railway tracks to oppose the controversial double tracking project, to save Goa from pollution and destruction.
Activists from all over Goa met in Margao on Saturday evening to chalk out a plan of action to intensify the agitation against the controversial project. It has been decided to intensify the agitation against the project, as the people accused the Railways and the government for bulldozing with the double tracking project in the villages of Cansaulim, Arossim and Velsao.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, historian Sakhardande has made a fervent plea to the people of Goa, irrespective of caste and creed, to oppose the double tracking project. “The people of Cansaulim, Velsao and Arossim are waging a sustained battle with the Railways to oppose the track laying work. If the rest of Goa extends their help and support to these villagers, the agitation will be successful,” he said.
He added: “When people from across Goa came together to oppose the Unity Mall at Chimbel, even the Central government did a rethink on the project. The double tracking project will be scrapped if the people of Goa come to the support of the villagers of Cansaulim, Arossim and Velsao. If entire Goa comes on the railway tracks, the Centre will take cognisance and scrap the controversial project.”
Saying that the activists are working on an action plan to intensify the agitation, Sakhardande said the over decade old fight is not just against double tracking of the railway line, but against coal pollution and the destruction of Goa’s environment.
“People of Goa should come on the railway tracks to mount pressure on the governments at the Centre and in Goa to see reason and scrap the double tracking project,” he said, while making an appeal to the people in large numbers at the Matanhy Saldanha Administration complex on April 16 for a hearing on related matter.
When the media questioned why people of Goa have not come out to oppose the track doubling project, Sakhardande said, “May be because of political affiliations, or their membership of political parties or may be many of them have taken favours from the government. But, we should understand that the project will have disastrous consequences for Goa as a whole. The Railways will be emboldened to destroy houses of people when the people are not coming on the streets and the railway tracks. People of entire Goa should come out and support the movement.”
Former MLA Alina Saldanha said the track doubling project is primarily being laid to benefit Karnataka State, which is 84 times bigger than Goa in size. “Why are the authorities determined to destroy Goa. If the government wants coal in Karnataka, let them transport the same through alternate routes and ports,” she said.
Saldanha said she has been told by sources that the Railways have plans to acquire additional 20 metre of land after the laying of the second track. “If what we hear turns out true, the additional land acquisition will further destroy the houses and structures along the railway track passing though the densely populated areas of Cansaulim, Arossim and Velsao,” she added.
Underscoring the need to mobilise the people of Goa to intensify the agitation, Saldanha said people need to come out on the streets to stop the government from pursuing the project.
Social activist Jose Marie Miranda charged that the government of Goa does not want to stop double tracking since the project is primarily aimed to benefitting the capitalists supporting the government.
Anti-double tracking activist Orville Dourado said the time has now come for the people of Goa to come out and oppose the coal project executed through double tracking. “Without land acquisition, the Railways have laid the second track in Velsao village. They had no document to stake claim on the land, but they bulldozed their way through the property owned by the people of Goa,” Dourado said, adding that the social activists have met in Margao to chalk out an action plan to save Goa.
