Team Herald
MARGAO: Condemning Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for allegedly lying about the Sagarmala project during the Assembly session, Goencho Ekvott (GE) and Goenchea Ramponkarancho Ekvott (GRE) on Thursday slammed the South Western Railway (SWR) for felling a number of coconut trees alongside the railway tracks in Mormugao taluka.
GE founder member Orville Dourado Rodrigues warned the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL), the SWR Contractor against rampantly violating the law.
Earlier, GE members and villagers had stopped such activity by RVNL where trees from the compound of former Chief Minister (late) Dr Luis Proto Barbosa were cut, however this time trees from the compound of former minister (late) Matanhy Saldanha were felled.
“It is noticed that RVNL under the cover of darkness has been trespassing into private properties and illegally felling coconut and other trees right from Issorcim to Cansaulim. This brazen act by RVNL will be countered tooth and nail by the aggrieved villagers,” said Dourado.
GE also appealed to all the 40 legislators cutting across party lines to support the Private Member Resolution to be moved by Quepem MLA Altone D’Costa to scrap the three linear projects.
Regarding CM’s comment on the Sagarmala scheme, the two groups said it was incorrect to state that it would only be used for passengers and tourism purposes and not to transport material.
GRE general secretary Olencio Simoes said the Central government had already published the final report on Sagarmala, in which the State of Goa was identified as one of the 14 Coastal Economic Zones (CEZ). “To implement the objectives of CEZ in Goa, there will be 30 destructive projects including the three linear projects as well as the six new berth expansions for Mormugao Port Authority (MPA), a new satellite port at Betul, etc, which are aimed at converting Goa into a coal hub as per the Sagarmala schemes,” said Simoes.
