Team Goemkarponn
CORTALIM: Cortalim Congress leader and social activist Olencio Simoes, along with Goencho Ekvott founder Orville Dourado, has strongly criticised the ongoing land acquisition and railway double tracking works in South Goa, alleging that the entire exercise is meant to convert Goa into a coal transportation hub at the cost of local communities, heritage, and livelihoods.
Simoes recalled that since 2016, several groups had been raising red flags about the intentions behind the expansion of Mormugao Port. “Since 2016 at MPT we were stating that the MPT port expansion plans is only for coal. Now again since 2020, the villagers of Arossim, Cansaulim, Velsao, Pale and Issorcim opposed the land acquisition. Most of them were senior citizens who travelled during Covid times to the deputy collector’s office at Mormugao simply because the double tracking was for coal transportation. This government has systematically approved all coal infrastructure projects to facilitate coal transportation via sea, river, road and railways at the cost of Goan lives and livelihood,” he alleged.
He further listed a series of government measures, which he claimed were deliberately designed to make Goa a coal corridor. “Firstly, they nationalised the six rivers of Goa. Then they came up with four expansion plans in MPA – the deepening of the approach channel for Capesize vessels at Mormugao Port, redevelopment of berths 8, 9 and barge berths, finger jetties at Vasco Bay for liquid cargo, passengers and fishing, and a multipurpose terminal at Betul. They diluted the CRZ notification to CRZ 2019, reducing the no-development zone from 500 to 50 metres, and deleted Goa-specific provisions, which now allows construction of land reclamation and foreshore facilities like ports, harbours, jetties, wharves and bridges. They proposed the four-laning of NH-4A in the Anmod–Mollem section. Lastly, they privatised the MPT by bringing the Major Ports Authorities Bill, 2022, all for coal import from Indonesia, Mozambique and Australia to handle and transport 141 MMTPA of coal for their crony capitalists Adani and Jindal,” Simoes stated.
Calling the fresh round of land acquisition a “slap on villagers,” Simoes accused the South Western Railway and its contractor RVNL of violating every norm. “They have acted like a state within the state by bypassing all laws and departments. They carried out work without fear of law, encroached on private property, blocked traditional access, cut trees, blocked storm water drains and even filled the River Sal at Velsao. Unfortunately, none of the departments have acted. This third acquisition in our villages will not only destroy our Kadamba-era houses but will create havoc as villagers are already affected by vibration and pollution from the trains passing through,” he warned.
Supporting these concerns, social activist and Goencho Ekvott founder Orville Dourado questioned why no Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) was conducted for the project. “The proposed doubling of the Hospet–Vasco da Gama railway project having been declared as a ‘special railway project’, why was the ESIA not conducted before the land acquisition process commenced? The purpose of an ESIA is to assess potential environmental, social and economic impacts such as noise, air pollution, soil erosion, habitat disturbance, land use changes and socio-economic effects, and to propose mitigation plans. However, the South Western Railway, through RVNL, acted in a dictatorial manner, in some areas conducting land acquisition in bits and parts to avoid an ESIA, which is mandatory if the acquisition is for 20,000 sqm and above,” he pointed out.
Dourado said the repeated small-scale acquisitions were a deliberate strategy. “The latest acquisition in Cansaulim, Issorcim and Sancoale is possibly the sixth one and for 6,000 sqm. These repeated acquisitions are to cleverly circumvent railway laws, which is a fraud played on the citizens of Goa, abetted by the local administration,” he remarked.
The activist sought an answer from the State government on why Goans were being treated differently. “Let our Chief Minister reply why the ESIA was not conducted for the Goa sector. Are we as citizens who have been living here for generations not part of the community of Goans? Don’t we have a right to co-exist on our ancestral land in a sustainable manner?” Dourado questioned.
Highlighting the adverse impacts, he said, “The fugitive coal dust from numerous rakes passing through our areas has virtually destroyed our coconut and paddy farmlands and water bodies, severely impacting livelihoods, apart from causing health hazards due to noise and air pollution. And what is the benefit for us, the locals? Can our government clarify?”
Dourado added that while Karnataka had completed and commissioned parts of the double tracking, Goa was still bearing the brunt of destructive acquisitions. “The double tracking from Margao to Vasco and from Kulem through the Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary and Mollem National Park has not been completed. What the railways have completed and commissioned is in Karnataka and from Kulem to Margao. In Goa, villagers are left only with destruction and uncertainty,” he said.
Both activists reiterated that Goa’s land, heritage homes, and traditional livelihoods were under severe threat due to projects meant solely to benefit coal corporates, and called for urgent intervention before irreversible damage is done.
