VASCO
Goencho Ekvott along with a group of locals from Cansaulim and Arossim on Tuesday uprooted the fencing work by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) along the railway station at Cansaulim.
Later, Cortalim MLA Alina Saldanha directed RVNL General Manager S B Sahoo to immediately stop the work and to remove all poles which were erected to fence some property at Cansaulim village.
Accusing the SWR and RVNL of carrying out activities, GE Joint Secretary Olencio Simoes said they had questioned railway officials about their permission.
“They couldn’t furnish any details but instead they forcibly trespassed in our land and also cut our trees.”
Simoes said the Velsao-Pale-Issorcim and Cansaulim-Arossim-Cuelim panchayats had passed a resolution objecting to the land acquisition in their jurisdictions but said railway authorities were forcibly going ahead with the land acquisition.
Founder of Goencho Ekvott Orville Dourado Rodrigues reminded the railway officials that an application is pending before the Supreme Court challenging the doubling of “Hospet-Hubli-Tinaighat-Vasco Railway Track.”
"The Supreme Court directed the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to evaluate the allegations and the CEC has submitted the report to the Supreme Court stating that it “does not find any justification for undertaking a project of this nature” and recommended that the court ‘revoke the permissions granted’.”
“But still, the railways without any ownership is pushing the acquisition on innocent villagers even after the land owners have objected to the land acquisition process," said Rodrigues.
