MARAGO: Goencho Ekvott (GE) has extended its support to the villagers of Utorda who have raised objections to the proposed land acquisition plans by South Western Railway (SWR) as well as the laying of an additional track for coal transportation.
Goencho Ekvott also questioned the motive of Konkan Railway (KR) in all this. “In 1994, KR purchased land in Utorda to construct a tarred service road on the Western side that used to benefit local residents. With the construction of additional feeder roads, the relevance of this road was lost except for the benefit for one or two families. Currently the KR and SWR have one track each. SWR now intends to construct their second track exactly where the road was constructed by KR is located, claiming that it is railway property,” said GE founder Orville Dourado Rodrigues.
“Now in 2023, in addition to that, SWR is literally tormenting the locals to cede additional land purportedly to construct a service road for the local residents in lieu of the existing tarred road, something which the local residents haven’t demanded! There is a catch in here, as the KR has plans for another track which on account of the stiff curvature cannot be laid on the Eastern side,” Rodrigues added.
In such a scenario the existing first SWR track is most likely to be transferred to KR, and SWR will eventually lay another track on the proposed new service road that they intend to construct on the Western side, claiming ofcourse that this property belongs to the railways,” Rodrigues added further.
GE said it condemns this attitude of the Railways, which it alleged is aimed at cheating Goans. GE further advised the local residents not to fall prey to such deceptive methods being employed by the railways/Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL).
“What people need to do instead is to unite and insist that the current service road on the Western side be maintained for the use of the general public as Right of Way (ROW). We say no to double tracking and no to coal transportation through Goa,” Rodrigues added.
