It began in the coastal villages of Cortalim. About ten days ago, the momentum gathered steam in Utorda and Majorda, where an almost an impromptu small meeting at the historic The Lady of Lourdes Church in Utorda saw for the first time a coming together of people from adjoining villages of Velsao, Arrosim , Cansaulim right up to Pale and Issorcim.
The Utorda Church, the seat of the most of the meetings of people against the Konkan Railway realignment in the nineties was the venue of the impromptu meeting of villages beyond Utorda and Majorda and the coming together of different people’s organisations and NGOs. The Church itself played host as people helped themselves stacked up and met in the Church compound hugging the railway tracks even as the meeting got frequently disrupted by goods trains, some carrying coal passing by. The subject at hand could not have been closer.
So as people rose up to speak one by one, and some answered questions by the Herald reporter.
Captain Viriato Fernandes who spearheads Goencho Avaaz rose to speak. He began by saying “Firstly we should not agree to any realignment or resurvey, Secondly the Chief Minister says he wants to study. He is only buying time and waiting for the people’s anger to calm down. My fear is that on my death bed my child will ask me was I sleeping when this issue was burning. They want us to be pinned down in our little villages, but it’s not about individuals. Our rivers are gone with 9 jetties being developed under funds from the ministry of shipping. Now we have the Major Ports bill, now renamed as Major Ports Authority bill earlier on hold is being reintroduced. Sections 25 and 26 mainly will give absolute rights to MPT and its newly constituted board on any project from that entire expanse from Betul to Dona Paula, bypassing panchayats and local bodies.”
“Not a single project will benefit Goans. Amkam kainch faido na”, he said.
Less than a week after this meeting the Colva Panchayat passed a resolution against double tracking. The Village Action Committee against Double tracking and other organisations then decided to take this movement to villages not just along the line of the South Western Railway expansion project to all over Goa.
The hard practical no-nonsense messaging from the ex-Navy man was mixed with the raw emotion of others. Orville Dourado Rodrigues head of the Village Action Committee against double-tracking said poignantly “Each has to be a partner in the movement. Every ward should have a citizens committee mobilizing people and explaining the big picture, the impact these projects will have in our villages. I had to leave Goa because there were no jobs here. I did well in the Gulf but am back here to live and fight for my land. And I have clearly learnt that if we limit this struggle to individual villages, we will lose the battle. The jetties coming up as our inland waterways are nationalized, is a takeover of our rivers. The Bhagwan Mahavir sanctuary will be destroyed by the triple effect of double-tracking highway expansion and the power transmission line. They call us anti-development. We are not opposed but this can’t be done by damaging ecology to this extent leaving us barren and exposed to pollution
Now….. the future
Cresson Antao, ex Dempo and Sporting Clube De Goa footballer turned Majordra- Utorda Calata- Panch to lead all Goa movement against ecologically destructive projects
After the Utorda meeting the boundaries that separate villages and organisations crumbled. A quiet but firm people’s movement is brewing 35 Panchayat meetings and 48 street corner meetings have been held in two weeks and counting
Local champions emerged like Creson Antao, a young Panch member of Utorda, who pitch-forked himself into the campaign and did so much of leg work beyond his village (a rare sight for panch in Goa) that he has deservedly been asked to be the Convenor of a more formal group constituted today (Monday) called Goencho Ekvott, (See story on page 1) which has drawn members from all over Goa. This signals a transformation of the movement against anti-double racking to a pan Goa one against the draconian manner of development.
Antao is known along this belt as a footballer having played at the highest levels with clubs like Demo and Sporting Clube de Goa, both former league champions and is completely apolitical. Speaking to Herald after the announcement of Goencho Ekvott he said “After the Utorda Church meeting, I realised there was no looking back. All of us, organisations and people got together, and started travelling to villages including those which are not directly impacted by any of the major projects, like Shiroda and Borim. And then of course we went to panchayats along the line or near the South Western Railway line”
He went on. “This is a point of no return. If we do not see the destruction of Goa in totality, we will not be able to stop anti-people projects. He however maturely said “We also need to be careful. We can only come out and hold meetings once the number of COVID cases drop and it is safe to come out and meet. Till then we will mobilize digitally and through meetings in tiny groups. But wait and see the response when everyone can safely come out. It will be a movement to be proud of”
In a very short span of time the narrative has not changed but expanded. Small examples will tell you how. Two weeks ago the Freda Pereira, the grand-daughter of Gregory Pereira, one of the mainstays of the Konkan railway realignment agitation from Utorda was planning to get members of the local church group to understand how the railway track passing in front of their ancestral home will actually block their entrance and trap them in. She also spoke about her neighbour Teresa who left her ancestral home and shifted to Betalbatim. And now we have Creson Antao, moving way out of his Salcete village, Majorda with others like Orville Dourado Rodrigues, Captain Viriato and so many others and travelling through Goa to make this not just about homes and villages but about Goa.
That gives hope.
