MARGAO
Majorda villagers, including farmers and panchayat members assembled near the Majorda railway tracks on Sunday to pose a simple question to the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd “ whether the railways are planning a third track in the village, or whether the debris dumped along the railway tracks is done to have a coal hub in the future or is the dumping activity taking place to shift the railway station or the railway staff quarters?
Villagers raised these and many other questions as work on the dumping of debris have been going on unabated by keeping the local panchayat body in the dark. That’s not all. Neither has the RVNL replied back to the plea of the panchayat body to disclose the nature of activity taking place at the site nor has the district authorities deemed it fit to conduct a site inspection as demanded by the villagers.
Majorda Panchayat member Creson Antao charged the RVNL for keeping the people and the panchayat body in the dark. In fact, he accused the railway agency for not taking the local panchayat body into confidence while carrying out the activities along the tracks. “The RVNL take the plea the railways come under the central government. But, is it not their duty and responsibility to keep the local bodies in the loop before taking up the work. They have employed an army of workers and locals are demanding to know whether they have the health cards,” Antao said.
He added: “RVNL should have taken the panchayat into confidence whether they are laying the third track. They are building a wall along the tracks. Is this work done to lay the third track or to shift the railway station or the staff quarters. Or, is it simply to create a facility for a coal hub.”
He said farmers from the village have raised their apprehensions that if the debris is not lifted away by April, the village and the paddy fields will all be submerged in the coming monsoons. “This is not acceptable when the government provides subsides for locals to revive agriculture and here is a case where the farmers are facing a threat of flooding,” Antao said.
Chairperson of the Majorda Bio-diversity Management Committee, Karen Braganza said the villagers are not opposed to development per se, but the development proposed in the village ought to be sustainable in nature.
Pointing out that the bio-diversity management committee had submitted letters to the District Collector and other authorities for action in the matter, Karen lamented that though the committee had received a reply from the Collector’s office on January 19, a joint inspection of the site in question is yet to be arranged by the district authorities. She raised fears that failure to act by the concerned authorities would result in inundation of the village and the agriculture fields in the monsoons.
A farmer representing the Majorda Xetkaranchi Sanstha Patronic D’Costa has called for removal of the debris, fearing that low-lying agricultural fields will be left inundated in the rains.
“New farmers who have started cultivating fields by spending huge money will be dissuaded from pursuing agriculture if their fields are destroyed in the rains due to blockage of the drains. “Our fields are located in the low-lying areas. It would be difficult to cultivate the fields if the water flow is blocked by the debris,” he feared.
