Team Herald
VELSAO: The fury of the locals spilled onto the streets of Velsao on Wednesday where there was yet another confrontation between the residents and the police over the ongoing work being carried out by the South-Western Railway authorities through private properties, purportedly connected to the contentious double tracking project.
The dispute arose when one of the affected landowners, Shalini Barbosa, was trying to barricade the entrance of their own property with boulders but the track carrying the material was stopped and seized by the police on the contention that it would block the work of the Railways. The police threatened to arrest the truck driver and the locals who tried explain that this is being done on private property and so how could such work be stopped?
The response from the police sparked anger amongst the locals and immediately a crowd gathered to support Barbosa, who had already filed complaints to the Velsao Panchayat, South Goa Collector, Mormugao Deputy Collector, and Verna Police informing them about the encroachments being done in her property. It was also revealed that the neighbouring private property owned by an A Alcasoas was being trespassed upon by the railway authorities and objections were raised on this too.
The situation got very tense when the Goa Police sent a heavy force to deal with the situation that included the Mormugao Deputy Superintendent (DySP) of Police Salim Shaikh, Verna Police Inspector (PI) Diogo Gracias and Vasco PI Kapik Nayak.
However, former Environment Minister and ex-MLA Alina Saldanha joined the locals and asked the police as to what is being done to protect the citizens whose properties are being encroached upon and why the authorities are giving them a deaf ear when they complain but try and arrest the locals who are fighting to protect their rights.
Saldanha also pointed out that Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral had visited the site and seen the potential damage but had kept silent to date despite the sufferings of the people and questioned if this was a democracy and who the government is working for.
Goencho Ekvott’s founder member Orville Dourado Rodrigues expressed shock when an official of the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) informed the police that they are building another track here. He said this is ‘hidden information’ as all this time the Railways had initiated land acquisition proceedings, which is not yet complete, on the western side of the track for the double tracking project and that the ongoing work that they were protesting against is taking place on the eastern side of the track, where no land acquisition proceedings have taken place.
Olencio Simoes of the Goenchea Ramponkarancho Ekvott also questioned if the Railways is acting like a State within the State given that they are not concerned with getting permissions from State authorities like the Forest Department, Town and Country Planning (TCP), Water Resources Department (WRD).
“A tributary of River Sal at Dando has been filled up to build a road. The State authorities pay no heed to their objections and the Railways even question the power of the Velsao Panchayat who has legal jurisdiction over the village” he lamented.
There were also complaints from elderly people from the village, who complained about how their blood pressure has increased and they fear for their life, and that they have already been suffering from respiratory ailments.
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No encroachments, people are making allegations: Dy Collector
The Mormugao Deputy Collector and Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Ravishekhar G Nipanikar played down the public ‘allegations’ that private properties are being encroached upon.
Herald contacted Nipanikar over the phone about the protests by the locals with regards to their private properties being encroached upon by the railway authorities for double tracking work.
He said, “Where are these encroachments? They are making allegations, right? These are only allegations. You should ask them to show where these alleged encroachments are?”
He added that his office can be visited by the media if there are any such questions. Earlier, Nipanikar had stated that no encroachments are taking place by the Railway authorities and that the onus is on the citizens to bring forward their documents to his office and prove their ownership if they want to make such claims.
