MARGAO
As Guirdolim and Chandor villagers along with activists made a strong pitch for the stoppage of work on the track-doubling project on Saturday after claiming flagrant violations of various rules in force, railway officials passed the buck on the State government to take a call on the question of stopping ongoing work and send the decision to the Centre for implementation.
In fact, Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) officials insisted at an interaction with the villagers and activists at the Chandor club house that the protestors can approach the State government to stop the work, pleading they are not competent to take a call on halting the track-doubling project.
Apparently emboldened by the State government’s decision, rejecting the demand for scrapping of the three linear projects, including track-doubling, the railway officials repeatedly insisted that the State government is aware of the ongoing work being executed by RVNL.
John Shilshi, OSD to RVNL general manager, S B Sahoo told Goyant Kollso Naka co-convenor Abhijit Prabhudesai that the State government can take a decision and put pressure on the Centre to stop the track-doubling project in Goa. “The pressure has to go from the State government to the Centre to. The railway officials here are not competent to stop the work and are answerable to our higher ups”, he said.
Villagers and activists had demanded an immediate stop to the track-doubling work till the railways obtain the requisite permissions from authorities such as the Chief Town Planner, Water Resources department, CRZ and the local panchayat over the question of burying a rivulet with construction debris at Guirdolim.
Abhijit fired a volley of questions at the RVNL officials, seeking to know whether the RVNL had obtained permission from CRZ to fill up the water body and for shutting a sluice gate. Railway officials were also asked whether the Chief Town Planner’s permission was obtained to undertake low-lying filling, and whether the WRD had issued permission to fill up the water body.
Apparently caught on the wrong foot, John Shilshi and S B Sahoo invoked the provisions of the Railway Act, exempting the railways from seeking permission from local authorities. John Shilshi went a step further to defend the actions at Guirdolim, saying State government officials and the district Collector were aware of the works proposed to be executed by the railways in Guirdolim.
An agitated Goencho Ekvott co-convenor Capt. Viriato Fernandes told Shilshi not to bring the State government in the picture, saying people of Goa know how the government is comprised of.
At this stage, locals demanded to know why the railways had obtained WRD permission for a similar work on the opposite side of the railway tracks and had got a nod from the forest department to cut down the trees if the agency is exempted from obtaining permissions from local agencies.
Capt. Viriato and Abhijit questioned the RVNL officials how they have violated a circular from the Union Ministry for Forests and Environment that no piece meal work should commence on a linear project unless there’s permission for the entire project.
Guirdolim Bio-diversity Management Committee Chairman Agostinho Antao reiterated that the railways have buried the rivulet in violation of rules and questioned the need for a road being built parallel to the tracks, fearing that the road will be used for coal transportation in the future. He also cornered the officials on the source of mud brought for the land filling at the work site and demanded demarcation of the land in question.
Guirdolim Sapanch Janet Cardozo and deputy Brian Pereira insisted that though the Panchayat had written several letters to the RVNL, not a single letter has been replied to by the railways. Panch member Jose Antao and Sonia Fernandes demanded immediate stoppage of the ongoing work till requisite permissions are obtained from the authorities.
A land owner also raised a serious question of non-payment of compensation for the land lost for the project, even as the railway officials requested him to settle the issue with the District Collector.
As the over two-hour long marathon meeting was leading to nowhere, with the railways refusing to stop work, at least till the time they obtain the permission, activist Olencio Simoes wound up the interaction at 2.45 pm, saying the railways are not serious in addressing the issues.
