Margao: The Curtorim MLA Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco has said that the government of Goa is all set to shamelessly emulate its Bihar BJP run government’s recent infamous feat of General Dyer type of firing on unarmed civilians
He criticized the State government for going ahead with the three projects in Goa and appealed to both the Central and the State government to scrap the South Western Railway (SWR) double tracking project in toto.
“Despite all-out opposition by the people of Goa to the proposed SWR double-tracking, it seems neither the Central govt nor our State govt is willing to listen to Goemkars and rescind the ruinous project for good and these stubborn authorities are blatantly adamant to go ahead with the disastrous project,” said Reginaldo.
“To stop this catastrophic double-tracking of SWR, I have written numerous letters to the Union Railway Minister as well as our Chief Minister but it seems they just want to bulldoze this appalling project on the people of Goa. Around mid-2020, the BJP-led govt at the Centre had invoked the Railway Acts 1989 in Goa, which was nothing but draconian in nature whose only goal was to grab and destroy the priceless land of Goemkars in the name of so-called development,” said Reginaldo.
“The double-tracking is part of the nefarious design to convert Goa into a coal hub and transportation corridor to benefit big corporate and big industrialists via Mormugao Port. Importantly, the Sagarmala project, the setting up of Jetties all across the State is done only with only one motive to facilitate the transport of coal from MPT to the thermal power stations and coke steel plants in Karnataka”, the Congress MLA alleged.
Reginaldo further alleged that both BJP govts at the Centre and Goa are despising opinions of Goemkars especially those residing in the areas from where the SWR route passes and have vehemently opposed the double-tracking as it would further lead to unimaginable destruction to the ecology and to the heritage of their respective villages; and also not stopping clandestine filling around the port area and Vasco by port authorities.
“The gram sabhas of almost all villages in Goa have opposed the double-tracking project. Ominously, the BJP State govt in order to quell the protest of Goemkars is foolhardy by taking a recent mad decision of providing police protection to the aforesaid SWR work. It seems the government with money power of crony capitalists and cooperates with notorious agenda with power and wants to shamelessly emulate its Bihar BJP-run govt’s recent infamous feat of General Dyer type of firing in which 18-year-old youth was killed and scores injured in police firing during the immersion of the idols of Goddess Durga. I want to ask our State govt will it now even kill or maim our Goemkars who are protesting the SWR double tracking to satisfy the unindenting appetite for coal by crony capitalists notably Adani?” asked Reginaldo.
