Arrosim: For the third consecutive day, locals of Arossim village made their presence felt near the historic St Lawrence Chapel to protest against the ongoing works being carried out by the railways in that area.
The situation was extremely tense earlier on Friday morning though when the villagers were shocked to see the work being carried out by the Railways, which to them, went against the assurances they had received on Thursday late night when they had all gathered at the site.
When the villagers sought an explanation and asked the RVNL officials to wait till the Mamlatdar arrived, their concerns were not only dismissed but they were also threatened to back off or else an FIR would be lodged against them. The villagers, even the elderly men and women were told that serious criminal charges would be lodged against them for obstructing government work.
These threats failed to deter the villagers, who continued to point out that they know the village from the back of their hand and that the work being carried out by RVNL would lead to flooding in the village.
There was uproar, when the RVNL General Manager confirmed to the locals that the work is for doubling of the existing track, something that the railway officials had not shared earlier with the locals despite questions about the overall purpose of the work.
Their struggle was rewarded after the Mormugao Mamlatdar reached the site, albeit much later in the day, and instructed the officials of Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) to temporarily suspend construction activities in the area for a period of three days.
The Mamlatdar further added that he would arrange for a meeting with the Deputy Collector on Monday with all the stakeholders, a proposal which was found acceptable by the villagers.
Members of the Cansaulim Villagers Action Committee (CVAC) added that they will be approaching the authorities concerned with their objections as well.
“This morning when the shuttering of the storm water drainage was dismantled by RVNL in the presence the villagers and the Goa police personnel, it was noticed that one of the two pipes was completely blocked with concrete, which RVNL immediately tried to clear with the help of power tools. The villagers advised them not to break the concrete as it would have caused very severe flooding in Arossim and other nearby villages,” said Goencho Ekvott (GE) Founder Orville Dourado Rodrigues.
He explained that the casing of the embankment was opened in the presence of the Verna Police Inspector (PI), villagers and RVNL.
Rodrigues also questioned how the authorities were allowing RVNL to fill concrete in a horizontal storm water drain with police protection despite hundreds of villagers initially protesting and keeping a vigil close to midnight on Thursday.
