SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024
Team Herald
MARGAO: The notification issued by the Revenue Department to carry out a land survey in five talukas to provide survey numbers to South Western Railway (SWR) has met with severe criticism with activists and environmentalists involved in the anti-double tracking agitation questioning the timing of the exercise given that the High Court has recently admitted a writ petition into complaints over damage to the environment by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL).
Complaining that SWR has been carrying out work in land that they do not allegedly own, the locals have pointed out that this survey is being done to remove the obstacles facing the Railways.
The recent inspection by Goa Coastal Zone Management Authority (GCZMA) confirming CRZ violations in Velsao and other inspections in that area is seen as setback.
Orville Dourado Rodrigues, Goencho Ekvott (GE) founder said, “Regarding the survey to assign survey numbers to land abutting the existing single railway tracks through Goa, it has always been our contention that SWR do not have title documents for these areas. This was also confirmed in the High Court when the villagers who have Portuguese era inscription and description documents had challenged the land grabbing.”
“Here, RVNL’s own legal counsel, one P P Singh said the officers entrusted with obtaining the relevant title documents and demanded by the court had failed to do so despite several requests and that they were not cooperating with him in the matter,” said Rodrigues.
“Now it appears that the Government of Goa has decided to usurp the land belonging to the locals to facilitate the transportation of coal through the thick settlement areas of Mormugao, Salcete and Quepem talukas. It is also clear to the lay person that the forceful construction activity by RVNL, at times even resorting to use of armed police personnel in areas where land acquisition has not even commenced is illegal and must be stopped immediately pending clarity on the matter by the judiciary,” Rodrigues added.
“The very reason that SWR does not survey numbers means that all their work and contention regarding the ownership of the land is invalid, illegal and should be stopped immediately. These are ancestral lands that are owned by the landlords who have inscription and description documents prior to 1961 that proves that they own the land. Even the land on which the existing single-track passes through our villages is on private property,” Olencio Simoes, General Secretary, Goenchea Ramponkarancho Ekvott (GRE) charged.
“SWR has no title documents for lands on which the existing railway line was built forcibly by the British. This survey is illegal and an attempt to create false land records without title documents. The Government of Goa, Government of India, SWR and Mormugao Port Authority are bending backwards and willing to do anything to help Adani, Jindal and others destroy Goa for their short-term profits,” claimed Abhijit Prabhudesai, Goyant Kollso Naka (GKN) co-convenor.
The survey for preparing record of rights suddenly? For whose benefit? The government should first rectify the wrong done by the Railways and then only proceed with other processes. We, the youth, demand justice from our government. Don’t disappoint us more,” urged Shogun Fernandes, President, Chicalim Youth Farmers Club (CYFC)
“We have been striving hard to open the eyes of the people and conscience of our government to the wrong doings and injustice caused by the Railways and capitalists and the recent inspection report from GCZMA has vindicated our stand. I hope people of Goa have enough guts to show non-cooperation to this suicidal exercise by our government. Stop double tracking,” demanded Alisha Pereira, CYFC member and Mormugao-based environmentalist.
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Now, a survey of four towns,
25 villages through which
the SWR track passes
With a view to settle the area by preparing the Record of Rights, the State government has directed the Directorate of Settlement and Land Records (DSLR) to undertake a survey of four towns and 25 villages through which the railway track of South Western Railways passes through.
“Certain lands which are in possession of the South Western Railways though surveyed and shown in the survey plan, have not been assigned any survey numbers and hence no Record of Rights was created in the nature of Form D in respect of land in possession and occupation of the South Western Railways. In view of this, the present survey is initiated to prepare Record of Rights connected therewith,” reads the notification.
