Goa opposition unites against rail track doubling

Goa opposition parties have united to scrap the doubling of the South Western Railway tracks in the Chandor village in South Goa. Parties have also accused the state government of trying to facilitate additional transportation of coal through the state and converting it into a coal hub.

Panaji:The opposition parties in Goa have come together to demand the scrapping of the doubling of the South Western Railway tracks in the Chandor village in South Goa.

Leader of opposition Digambar Kamat on Monday reiterated the demand for the scrapping of the project and accused the state government of trying to facilitate additional transportation of coal through Goa, thereby converting the state into a coal hub.

The charge made by the former Chief Minister and sitting Congress MLA, comes hours after workers of the opposition parties across party lines, namely the Congress, Goa Forward and the Aam Aadmi Party, backed a people's protest organised in the South Goa village, by blocking the SWR line from midnight to the early hours of Monday.

"The Congress and other opposition parties have spoken in one voice against the doubling of railway track, which is being carried out for facilitating transportation of coal through Goa," Kamat said.

The blocking of the railway tracks from midnight on Sunday to the early hours of Monday at Chandor, the former capital of the Goa under the Kadamba dynasty circa 14th century, was the first major protest in the state, especially one where opposition political parties, across party lines, have united against the Central government project.

The doubling of SWR tracks is one of the three major Central government projects which have been opposed by the civil society groups and the opposition parties.

"The Congress legislature party has formally opposed all three projects. We will back the popular projects until they are cancelled," Kamat said

Nearly 50,000 trees located in the Western Ghats region of Goa are slotted for felling for the multiple Central government projects which include expansion of railway lines and highways and drawing of a new high tension power, spread across protected forests in and around Mollem village, located in the Western Ghats region.

The projects have already been cleared by the National Wildlife Board for Wildlife in April this year.

The opposition, as well as the civil society groups and tourism stakeholder bodies, have expressed apprehension, that the projects were being pushed at an "express pace" to facilitate the movement of coal imported through the Mormugao Port Trust facility in Goa to steel mills in Karnataka's Bellary district and nearby areas.

Ruling BJP president Sadanand Shet Tanavade said that it was wrong to link coal transportation to the three Central government projects and maintained that the agitation was being carried out with an eye on the 2022 state Assembly polls.

"There is no connection between coal transportation and double-tracking. It is misinformation. Coal was being transported all this will over the single rail track. Political parties and NGOs are trying to defame the government ahead of the 2022 polls," Tanavade had said.

IANS Report