MARGAO: Two joint inspections were held in Guirdolim where the railway double-tracking project is taking place and the local residents, who were part of both inspections, were relieved that the sluice gate will not be broken, which was their long-pending demand.
“Right from 2019 we were demanding not to touch the Nogozan lake’s sluice gate and not to divert the flow of water (into the river). Had the sluice gate been destroyed, it would have destroyed the neighbouring fields and coconut plantations” said Agostine Antao, the Chairperson of the Guirdolim village biodiversity committee.
The first inspection was carried out by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) and the second by the Water Resources Department (WRD).
For the first inspection, railway officials such as the RVNL General Manager Shashi Sahoo and other technical staff along with locals were present.
Prior to this in January, RVNL had taken measurements following which RVNL reduced the width of the railway platform from 27 metres to 17 metres in order to save the sluice gate of the lake from shifting towards the south.
RVNL also wrote to the Executive Engineer, Works Division II of the WRD about this development.
“It is to inform you that earlier there was a proposal to shift the sluice gate to accommodate a loop line Chandor yard. Farmers and villagers of the same village have made a request to retain the sluice gate stating their problems of flooding in the nearby area during monsoon. Considering their problem, the railway authority has decided to retain the existing sluice structure by constructing a 500 m length of retaining wall in their own land without disturbing the water body. So the reconstruction of the sluice gate should be dropped from your estimate, which was earlier incorporated in the detailed estimate,” said Sahoo in that letter.
For the second inspection, WRD officials namely Assistant Engineer Sainath Jamakhandi and Junior J Engineer Gangesh Salgoankar along with locals were present.
WRD had earlier prepared a tender and contract was given also based on the earlier measurements but the same had been put on hold following the instructions from former WRD Minister Felipe Neri Rodrigues. While there was some communication gap earlier between WRD and RVNL, the issue appears to be sorted for now. WRD will still be completing the construction of the retaining wall for the rivulet on the southern side of the tracks.
