WRD Minister Filipe Neri Rodrigues addresses the protestors assuring his support to the ongoing movement against coal and double tracking. Santosh Mirajkar.
MARGAO
As hundreds of anti-track doubling protestors descended at the Nessai railway crossing on Monday, Salcete lone Minister, Filipe Neri Rodrigues became the first Minister to publicly assure the protestors that he would prevail upon Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and the Council of Ministers to stop ongoing double tracking work, at least in Salcete taluka, till the Union Ministers visit the state on December 15.
Filipe Neri went a step further and assured the agitators that he would take up the issue of stopping the ongoing work at the ensuing Cabinet meeting, reassuring the protestors that he would take the next step if the Chief Minister does not listen to him.
Asserting that he is opposed to all the three controversial projects as they would impact the environment, Filipe further said that the government should immediately stop the ongoing work following his statement as part of Cabinet’s collective responsibility.
Corned by the protestors near the Nessai railway crossing in Sao Jose Areal village, falling in his Velim constituency, Filipe Neri said “I will prevail upon the Chief Minister to stop all work of double tracking till the Union Ports, Railways and Coal Ministers visit Goa by December 15. I am the only Salcete MLA and I have to ensure that Salcete remains peaceful”.
Extending his full support to the ongoing agitation, Filipe Neri said he had been conveying to the Chief Minister that peace in the state will be destroyed with the agitation spreading like fire in the villages.
“Today I told the district Collector to withdraw all the program, including demarcation of land near the Nessai gate since a Minister and the government is going to the site. All this time the government did not speak. But, today I have told the Collector to stop the surveyors, railway officials and police from coming to the site”, he said, assuring the protestors that he would convey their sentiments to the Chief Minister.
Expressing surprise over the decision to accept the demarcation, the Minister said “accepting the demarcation is not a good sign. This agitation is not just in Nessai, but across the state and the purpose would go haywire”.
Complimenting people for taking the agitation to the level of success in a peaceful manner, Filipe said “till the Union Ministers visit the state, I will request the Chief Minister to stop the work, at least in my Salcete taluka. I am confident that the agitation will be a success”.
The WRD Minister had to face a barrage of question from the protestors, as he promised to stand by the people in demanding scrapping of the projects. When a protestor questioned what he would do if the Chief Minister does not listen to him to stop the ongoing work, Filipe said “if the Chief Minister does not listen, I will decide on the next step”.
When another protestor demanded to know whether the controversial projects including double tracking was the development he had promised when the 10-member Congress MLAs joined the BJP, Filipe shot back “if the time comes, I will say I don’t want any development or schemes in my constituency. But, I would insist that the ongoing work is stopped”.
The protestors, including activist Freddy Travasso demanded immediate withdrawal of the FIRs registered against the people. He also demanded scraping of the land acquisition process and action against the structures built by the SWR near the Nessai gate.
Freddy made it clear that Areal villages have rejected the land demarcation for the simple reason that the Panchayat had first opposed track doubling in 2013 and since then had been adopting resolutions after resolutions against the project.
Goencho Ekvott Convenor Creson Antao demanded to know from the WRD Minister how the Goa Cabinet gave approval for the land acquisition for the double tracking when then Union Minister of state for Railways Suresh Angadhi had talked about shifting the project out of Goa if the people didn’t want the project. “The Chief Minister had taken the track doubling project by applying the Railway Act. If the state government is serious in resolving the issue, you should not wait for the Centre to scrap the projects”, Creson asserted.
