MARGAO: The villagers of Sao Jose de Areal panchayat as well as other commuters were furious when a railway level crossing gate at Nessai was closed for several hours on Monday evening.
The issue arose when the Railway authorities were carrying out work on the tracks, such as relaying tracks, clearing out the rubble between the tracks and by doing so even the road that goes over the railway tracks was also dug up.
This meant that even if the gateman had to open the Railway level crossing gate, vehicles would have trouble crossing through without damaging their vehicles.
What left the villagers infuriated was that there was no notice that was given to the public in advance so that they could have made alternate arrangements.
“We have been stuck here for more than an hour and a half. Look at the number of vehicles that have queued up on either side of the track. How are they supposed to move out? We called the panchayat, the police and they said they did not receive any notice from the railways. We asked the gateman, he also said they did not get any notice. Are we supposed to put law and order into our own hands?” questioned Mario Barretto, one of the local residents.
When the local Sarpanch and panch members reached the site, they too criticised the railway authorities for not informing them in advance and pointed out that had they known in advance, they could have informed the locals to make alternate arrangements.
“On one side, the people have been protesting against the double tracking work. One the other hand, the railway authorities seem not to care at all for the public. This is not some small work but massive work that began in the morning. It was not a last-minute exercise but a planned one. They should have informed the authorities especially because the villagers have been denied access today,” said another local resident.
