VASCO: The tall claims of 100 per cent electrification in the state of Goa will come crashing down, if one has the time to hear the story of 12-year-old Samuel Gavin Fernandes who is living with his maternal grandparents, mother and two uncles in Vasco town.
Few years ago due to some personal problem Samuel’s mother Succorine Dourado, moved into her parent’s home and since then she and her son have been living in a small two-room house built on a private property near Hansa beach in Vasco. Samuel’s grandfather Inacio Dourado (61) is a traditional fisherman from Hansa Beach.
As a Std VI student of Regina Mundi School, Samuel today dreams of become an engineer. He is putting in hard work to achieve his dream. Samuel’s story during the day is full of energy and excitement, but the sad part is when he returns in the evening his home has no electricity, forcing the entire family to depend on kerosene lamps.
“For us life has become dull, dark, boring and more like living in the Stone Age. It’s not that we did not have any electricity connection but the same was disconnected after the Navy raised objections and since then we have been living without electricity or water connection and to break the darkness, we have been using kerosene lamps,” Mario Dourado (38), younger son of Inacio Dourado, told Herald.
According to Mario, initially about six families used to live in this private property near Hansa beach. However, after navy officials started imposing access restrictions, five families shifted elsewhere but since they are poor and were unable to buy a new house, the Dourados decided to stay on.
“Darkness is not the only ordeal we have been facing. The property we live as tenants is surrounded by naval property. Citing security reasons the navy has control over access to this area. After we approached the High Court, the HC in the year 2011 passed an order directing the Navy to give us rightful access, which is now via the naval residential gate and to come to our home we have to show the passes (issued by navy) at the main gate. Also since we approached the high court, navy disconnected the electricity connection which they had given to us on humanitarian grounds. Later we made application to state electricity department requesting them to provide us electricity connection but till date we have not received any response from them,” Mario added.
Explaining the hardships Inacio said, “We have been facing tremendous hardships for many years. Two years ago when my wife suffered a snake bite, we had to carry her in our arms using the only access pathway, via steps, to take her to the hospital. We even tried to call for an ambulance, but the navy did not allow the ambulance to enter. No one wants to marry my son because people don’t want their daughter to face similar hardships. How should we live? We cannot even go anywhere.”
Meanwhile refuting the allegations, Navy officials from INS Gomantak claimed that they never prevented access to Dourado family. However, due to security concerns, navy has issued them passes. “With regards to the water and electricity connection, it has to do with the State agencies and not the navy,” an official told Herald.
