Goemkarponn desk
Velsao: Goencho Ekvott stops barricading of Right of way in Velsao by RVNLon Wednesday.
Goencho Ekvott founder member Orville Dourado Rodrigues said a Hyderabad-based civil contractor with his crew was installing barricades parallel to the existing single railway track near Velsao level crossing.
He said, as it can be seen in the pictures and the videography, this is the traditional Right Of Way kept by our ancestors for the village community. This land was never sold nor gifted to the then British Company in the 1890s; rather the then Railway Authority based at the Mormugao Port was allowed to lay the single railway tracks to facilitate the transportation of essential commodities from the Port; later on, transportation of passengers”.
Today what we see here is rampant Coal transportation, almost 10-12 rakes in 24 hours, mostly at night when the villagers are supposed to be asleep, spewing fugitive hazardous coal dust all along the way, which today have even percolated to our underground water sources, he said.
Now the railway authorities want to create ghettos further, further diving our once pristine villages, thus depriving the villagers living alongside the railway tracks of the only access to their residences. Goencho Ekvott intervened in the matter and informed the Contractor that the issue is sub-judice and hence it is in their interest that no works can commence in these areas.
After speaking to their superiors and the railway authorities, the poles for the barricades were loaded back into their truck by the contractor, informed Rodrigues.