railway land issue
VASCO
Mormugao Deputy Collector Sabaji Shetye on Saturday stated that encroachers on railway land would not be entitled to any compensation.
He was speaking to reporters when he along with South Western Railways officials, Mormugao Mamlatdar Laxmikant Desai and other railway officials inspected the area on Saturday, as part of plans to double the tracks from Shanti Nagar in Vasco to Dabolim.
“We have inspected the railway area to check for encroachment and illegal constructions,” said Shetye.
Asked if any compensation would be paid to houses likely to get demolished, Shetye replied: “No compensation will be paid to those who have encroached on railway land, while others will be entitled to compensation as per the government rate.”
Responding to a query on the time it would take to begin work on doubling of the railway tracks, railway official Ramesh Kamble said an inspection report would first be submitted to higher authorities.
“Accordingly, the process of doubling of the tracks will start,” he said.
According to sources the State recently gave its consent to the acquisition of land for the doubling of tracks along the Tinaighat-Vasco section, following the intervention of Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu.
“The Goa government had initially opposed the acquisition of land for the project, which has already been sanctioned by the Railway ministry,” said a source.
The Railway Board has sanctioned the Hospet-Hubli-Londa-Tinaighat-Vasco da Gama (407km) doubling project at a total cost of Rs 2,127 crore during 2010-11. The first phase of the Hospet-Hubli-Londa-Tinaighat section (245km) is being undertaken at an estimated cost of Rs 928.85 crore and is expected to be completed by 2018.
The Hospet-Tinaighat railway line is a section of the Bellary-Hospet-Vasco da Gama route (407km), which was converted from meter-gauge to broad-gauge in 1997. This section has become saturated owing to the enormous increase in traffic necessitating line doubling, sources said.
The doubling of the railway track is expected to facilitate movement of imported coal from Mormugao Port to steel industries and upcoming thermal power plants at Jewargi in Gulbarga district.
The doubling of the railway line is also expected to increase the number of passenger trains connecting important tourist destinations to Goa.
Vasco, Dabolim, Sancoale, Cansaulim, Majorda, Margao, Chandor, Curchorem and Kulem are among the important stations on the Goa stretch of the route which are likely to be affected by the track-doubling project of the South Western Railway.
