In a bid to bring the menace of toxic air pollution under control, the Union government on Tuesday announced its plan to transport coal in covered rail wagons and trucks across the country, claiming that once implemented, the decision would help curb pollution.
Citing the decision, Vasco-based green activists and those from other parts of Goa have demanded that the State government should immediately approach the railway ministry to begin implementation of its decision, as currently despite being covered with tarpaulin, spillage of coal cargo along the railway route is high.
“We are happy that echoes of concerns raised by people during the public hearing held at Vasco have now being heard across the country and hope the suggestions will be implemented. We demand that the State government approach the railway ministry with the plea to start implementation of its decision on dusty cargo from Goa,” said environmental activist Savio J F Correia.
He further claimed that the decision was long overdue, as I had written a letter to the chairman of railway board some months ago on this issue.
Commenting on the current situation, where cargo from wagons spills along the tracks despite being covered, Corriea said the existing methods that are being used to cover the coal cargo with tarpaulin are absolute failure. Air enters though the tarpaulin and then dust spreads out on both the sides of wagons. “A research on cargo also proved that between 1 to 3 per cent of cargo gets lost along the way and this is due to spillage and other factors. We therefore need world class measures and not tarpaulin covers, which are primitive measures,” he added.
Sanjay Redkar from Goa Against Coal (GAC) said rampant spillage of coal cargo along the tracks take place when the wagons are loaded with cargo as well as while returning back empty.
“Loaded wagons spill coal and empty wagons spread the coal when the train is in full speed. When the wagons are empty fine coal dust particles spreads out more creates more pollution than loaded wagon. So just putting cover over the cargo will not solve the purpose as tarpaulin are not airtight,” he pointed out, adding that currently the covering is merely for name sake and the amount of spillage is so high that one can collect more than one bag of coal from tracks from Vasco to Dabolim itself.
A member of GAC, Olencio Simoes feels that coal handling at MPT should be completely stopped and MPT should concentrate more on promoting cruise tourism.
“Presently the railway track from Vasco is considered as cargo track with more than nine coal loaded trains moves out from MPT in a day and the amount of pollution due to spillage of coal from wagons all along the railway route is horrible. All those living along the railway route have been suffering. I feel that MPT should reduced its dependency on coal and should start focusing more on cruise tourism as Goa is getting good response from international tourists,” he said.
