Team Herald
VASCO: Accusing the South Western Railway (SWR) of carrying out ‘illegal’ activities without fearing the law of the land, Goencho Ekvott (GE) along with Cansaulim and Arossim villagers stopped the double tracking work by SWR in collaboration with Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) at Cansaulim and removed the fence which they claimed was ‘illegally’ constructed.
In a press release, GE Joint Secretary Olencio Simoes alleged that the SWR is continuously carrying out ‘illegal’ activities without fearing the law of the land. “When we questioned the railway officials about the valid permission they failed to furnish any details and instead forcibly trespassed into the land of locals and cut the trees”, Simoes claimed.
Simoes said the Velsao-Pale-Issorcim and Cansaulim-Arossim-Cuelim panchayats had passed resolutions opposing the land acquisition in their jurisdictions and despite this the rail authorities are forcing the acquisition on the villagers.
GE founder Orville Dourado Rodrigues reminded the railway officials that the Application No 1440 in IA 1380 of 2005 is pending before the Supreme Court challenging doubling of ‘Hospet-Hubli-Tinaighat-Vasco Railway Track’.
“The Supreme Court directed the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to evaluate the allegations and the CEC has submitted the report to the Supreme Court, which states that it ‘does not find any justification for
undertaking a project of this nature’ and recommended that the court ‘revoke the permissions granted’, but still the railways without any ownership is pushing the acquisition on the innocent villagers even after the land owners have opposed both the land acquisition processes”, Rodrigues said.
Cortalim MLA Alina Saldanha immediately instructed the RVNL General Manager S B Sahoo to stop the work and remove all the poles erected to fence their so-called railway boundary in Cansaulim.
