Team Herald
GUIRDOLIM: The village of Guirdolim, which had one railway track, laid down by the Indian Railways during the Portuguese era has now four mighty tracks and three more are planned for the future. The quaint little railway station, despite being under the jurisdiction of Guirdolim village, bears the name of ‘Chandor Station’, and likely to turn into a major halt for inter-State trains.
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A walk along the dusty station road, that starkly contrasts the greenery of the coconut trees and vegetation that surrounds it, one can easily find huge chunks of coal on the tracks. While so many villages, affected by the expansion of the Indian Railways, are trying to evade the idea of turning into a ‘coal hub’, the question that arises is if enough is being done to protect the environment from the atrocities of development?
Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC) of Guirdolim organised an Environment Awareness Walk for its villagers on Sunday. The participants of the walk were led by locals who shared their expertise on the various urgent topics at hand. The groups consisted of both young and old villagers, who understood the sad plight of the environment surrounding the railway expansion.
Marcelino Fernandes, one of the villagers, led one of the groups that consisted mostly youth and highlighted how the development had led to the drying of one of the streams of the river. The vegetation surrounding it was gravely affected. He also brought to light how in 2019, the locals were able to stop the Indian Railway from demolishing the sluice gate of Nocazon lake. A similar destruction is now evident in the destruction of the sluice gates of the northern side of River Zuari. He also emphasised on how a platform that is in construction 500 metre from the main station could imply the construction of a coal loading facility on the trains, keeping the proximity to river Kushawati in mind. This could eventually indicate the washing of coal residue into the waterways.
People’s movement against the Indian Railway finds its traces in 2018, when the movements led by Agostinho Antao, the present Guirdolim BMC chairperson, the Indian Railways were stopped from dumping the debris in the nearby river which could eventually have led to flooding in the same area.
Jose Coutinho, another villager who led one of the groups shed light on how the development had impacted the cultivation by the river banks. The drooping coconut trees and as well as the excessive soil erosion indicated that it is nature that is paying the cost of this expansion.
The questionnaire handed out to the participants by the Guirdolim BMC, led to the sudden realisation that there were already four tracks developed along the path and the construction of the fifth seemed to be in progress. As the participants walked along the tracks, they kept stumbling over huge chunks of coal dropped from the goods train currently plying along the route. The question that they were left pondering upon was, is there truly any power left in the hands of the people, to stop the complete destruction of the environment.
