There have been promises made, but motorists continue to face hardships at the Guirdolim railway crossing. Serpentine queues of vehicles and bumper-to-bumper traffic is a daily sight when the railway crossing is closed for traffic. Sadly, there’s no relief for the villagers, with the proposals mooted over the years not taking shape.
What’s worse is that public transportation in the area is also in a bad state. The panchayats of Chandor, Guirdolim and Macazana have written to the Directorate of Transport to improve the public transport connectivity, but despite gram sabha resolutions being forwarded to the government and Kadamba Transport Corporation, the number of buses has not been increased.
The residents are inconvenienced every day. School children, college students, employees of various organisations, etc, have to wait a long time when the railway gates are shut to allow a train to pass through. Sometimes, out of frustration, people tend to cross the line, which can be dangerous.
“When we will get freedom from the railway gate at the railway junction is the only question the villagers of Chandor, Guirdolim and Macazana are asking for the last 32 years. Successive governments failed to fulfill the demand of the locals,” said Stephen Fernandes.
For several years, people have suffered a lot due to the railway crossing. The railway gate comes down every half-an-hour, and vehicles are forced to wait for over 20 minutes for the train to pass.
Several representations have been made and several gram sabha resolutions have been passed. MLAs and ministers of all parties have made promises, but have done nothing.
The villagers’ demand is simple; they want an over bridge. But this demand has only remained on paper. Incidentally, this rail over bridge was in the manifesto of Cuncolim MLA Rajan Naik. Locals are furious over the lethargic attitude of the government regarding this.
In June 2015, after the launch of hot-mixing work in Chandor, Naik had stated that the Centre had given its approval for the rail over bridge at Chandor and that this was communicated during the visit of the Union Railway Minister and South Goa MP.
Former Chandor sarpanch Derrick Braganza Pereira said the government had acquired land at Guirdolim junction in 1984 to build the over bridge, but since that time, not even a brick has been laid.
“Due to unavailability of a bridge, we are facing many problems as we are constantly delayed. Students and teachers reach late to school. Even to attend mass it is a big hassle for some villagers. The BJP government was supposed lay the foundation stone on Liberation Day, but I do not know what went wrong. I urge the government to build an over bridge for vehicles. It can even explore the possibility of a road under bridge,” said Braganza Pereira.
The panchayat had adopted a resolution to build a road over bridge at the Guirdolim-Curtorim-Sao Jose de Areal junction. Then Sarpanch Jose Antao had stated that this would have helped solve the problem arising due to the closure of the railway crossing. The government had already acquired land for the approach roads on both sides of the crossing at that junction.
During the tenure of former Guirdolim Sarpanch Milagres de Chandor, the panchayat had looked into the possibility of a road under bridge. Milagres had maintained that a road under bridge would solve the traffic snarls near the railway crossing.
Guirdolim Sarpanch Sonia Dias explained that gram sabhas of many villages had passed several resolutions in favour of the over bridge, but that the authorities didn’t seem interested in their demands. She added that Naik had proposed to have a small bridge only for two-wheelers, but the gram sabhas were not in favour of this as they felt the need for a bridge for four-wheelers also. She urged the government to act fast and fulfill their demand.
Zilla Panchayat member Clafasio Dias has blamed the former MLAs for not fulfilling the demands and questioned why the government and railway authorities are hesitating to act on the same. He said that if that the government fails to act, the villagers would be forced to take to the streets.
Sharmila Fernandes, a local who is a government employee, always reaches late because of the railway gate. She said, “I request the government and rail authorities to fulfill our demand.”
Cuncolim activist Avinash Tavares criticised the government for ignoring its own constituency and the promise of constructing a flyover across the railway track. He pointed out that till date commuters from the village and those traveling between Sanguem and Margao have to wait in a queue to cross the track every day.
