VASCO
Cortalim MLA Anton Vas on Tuesday morning met the villagers of Velsao who were affected with the double tracking railways project.
Vas met the people and had a meeting in the presence of Velsao Panchayat Sarpanch Maria Gouveia.
It was finally decided that the MLA Anton Vas will call for a joint meeting with the Dy Collector Ravishekar Nippanikar with the Velsao locals to address the issues of the public opposing the double tracking project.
" We have had a fruitful meeting and I had called the meeting after Velsao Panchayat informed me that the Velsao villagers affected with the double tracking project wanted to meet me to address their issue. We have now heard all the grievances and we have decided to call a joint meeting with Dy Collector and Velsao locals and if possible have a public hearing because the story told by the Dy Collector differs from the story told by the villagers. We want to address the issue of the villagers and come to a concrete solution and this is the first step," said Vas.
Velsao Sarpanch Maria Gouveia said that she was thankful to the MLA for having met with the people to address their issue.
"The main issue was the double tracking and only the people whose properties are allegedly encroached by the railways have attended the meeting . There are more people who have the right of way , some who have houses in close proximity of the tracks and some people have power of attorney but they could not attend the meeting because we did not have much time. The solution given now is to meet the Dy Collector and address the issues faced by the people. We would want the Railway authorities to also attend the joint meeting if possible so that there can be a concrete solution, " said Gouveia.
Another local Camilo Souza said that there was various discussions during the meeting with MLA Anton Vas.
"The Railways are insisting that we must produce our documents in case we object to their works but in reality it is the railways who must show their land documents. We don't want double tracking because it causes coal pollution and we already have a miserable life with 24 trains operating and double tracking would make things worse, " said Sousa.
Former panch and senior citizen Maria Olga DSouza said that the village was against the double tracking in totality.
"We dont have access and we are almost landlocked. We face pollution and there is no proper drainage and we don't have crossing facilities with trains speeding regularly along the tracks. We can't sleep because these trains horn all the time and the coal that falls from goods train lands in our property. We are against double tracking and we request the Government to scrap double tracking project, " said D'Souza.
