Team Herald
MARGAO: The villagers of Majorda during a massive protest in the village on Sunday objected to the alleged destruction of biodiversity and natural flow of water by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL)
Representatives of the Majorda-Utorda-Calata panchayat, the panchayat’s Biodiversity Management Committee (BMC), the Carmona Farmers Club and the residents participated in the protest.
The locals referred to the ongoing construction work carried out by RVNL in Majorda, parallel to the existing railway track and that a lot of construction debris, waste and dirty mud/slurry have been dumped in agriculture fields.
They raised concerns that the Majorda Lake, which is across the Railway track on the eastern side, will be polluted if the debris, mud/slurry and other construction material are not removed immediately or latest by April.
They explained that the water from the lake as well as the water from Utorda subsequently flows into River Sal and that any pollution, blockage or disruption of water flow will severely affect the entire bio-diversity and water table in Utorda and Majorda. Patrocinio da Costa, a farmer said if action is not taken soon, the fields will be flooded along with the village during the monsoon as it is a low-lying area.
He recalled how the village had suffered during the cyclone in the recent past and that all the efforts of the farmers, including those, who had just got into farming, will go in vain as their fields will be lost forever.
BMC chairperson Karen Braganza said, “The farmers are dependent on the flowing water and underground water reserve to carry out their agricultural activities throughout the year”.
“Environmental experts and also the elderly who have been in cultivation in the villages for decades fear that the unplanned construction activities undertaken by RVNL will result in a catastrophic disaster of the environment leading to flooding in the villages and destruction of agricultural fields,” she added.
Braganza informed that the South Goa Collector, Water Resource Department (WRD), Town & Country Planning Department, Goa State Biodiversity Board (GSBB), Administrator of Comunidades have been informed about this, but till date no action has been taken. A letter has also been sent to RVNL’s Goa office and Hubballi head office but there is no response.
She said that they had asked the District Collector to hold a joint inspection with the official of RVNL, GSBB and the panchayat’s BMC members.
Braganza said that the Collector had stated a joint inspection will take place, but the same is yet to be scheduled.
She said the inspection will help the authorities understand the disaster and destruction that awaits the villages due to the unplanned construction being undertaken in the name of the double tracking project.
“As an immediate measure, the work may be stopped at the earliest to obviate further damage to the biodiversity, the agricultural fields, the destruction of natural flow of water, etc,” said Braganza.
Cresson Antao, a panch, who participated in anti-coal protests, also slammed the government for keeping the panchayat in the dark.
He said neither the panchayat nor the people know if the Railways want to lay another track here or set up a yard for dumping coal or shift the Railway station here or close the railway crossing nearby or demolish the existing Railway quarters in the village.
Antao said that when another panch went to the collectorate they received outdated plans of the Railways that are not clear whereas the Railway officials have conveyed to them verbally that they have Konkan Railway land acquisition plans of 1993.
He hit out at the government for imposing a project like double tracking on the villagers without taking them into consideration.
Antao questioned why the government is on one hand, promoting agriculture and on the other hand destroying fields.
