CANSAULIM: The villagers of Cansaulim-Arossim-Cuelim (CAC) on Thursday slammed South Western Railways (SWR) over blocking of traditional access to St. Lawrence Chapel, Arossim, which according to the villagers is an age-old access route to the chapel.
“Goa’s heritage is under sustained attack. Goencho Ekvott condemns the erection of barricades and will stand by the public. The planned incident of erecting permanent barricades in front of St Lawrence Chapel, Arossim by the SWR has infuriated the villagers all of whom have been using this traditional access for generations to ensure that these are immediately dismantled by those who erected them,” Orville Dourado Rodrigues, founder member, Goencho Ekvott said.
Rodrigues said that the villagers along the coastline are perturbed lot, not because of the damning economic downturn but on account of the high-handedness of SWR who have the least consideration for the residents living alongside the existing tracks for generations.
“In the last 3-4 months, the railway contractor has upped the construction tempo in their push to realise Adani’s and Jindal’s dream of laying the double tracks through thickly populated villages. But unfortunately for these people, the villagers have time and again stood up for their rights. Even centuries-old ‘live’ heritage structures like St Lawrence Chapel at Arossim haven’t been spared,” he added.
A large number of aggrieved villagers on Wednesday converged to protect their ancient pathway which was barricaded overnight by the railway contractor.
“The Railways have absolutely no right to block traditional access without first constructing underpasses for pedestrians and light vehicular traffic,” a villager alleged.
