Velsão: Velsão residents and landowners have expressed dismay over the rampant double-tracking related works carried out by the RVNL (Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd) in Velsão. The villagers and the Goencho Ekvott members have alleged that the work is being carried out on private properties without any land acquisition.

 

On Monday morning, Velsão residents gathered and objected to the work related to double-tracking being carried out in some properties which they claimed to be private. The residents opined that law and order in the state has collapsed and that lawlessness has taken over the state.

 

Goencho Ekvott’s founding member Orville Dourado Rodrigues alleged that the railway authorities were not listening to the objections raised by the locals against double-tracking. He further claimed that in some parts of Velsão there is no land acquisition and the railway is trespassing on private properties. Rodrigues also said that Goa is becoming like the Wild West with no law and order.

 

Another local said that multiple times they had written letters to the deputy collector, mamlatdar, etc to stop the double-tracking and submitted their objections, but nothing has happened. It may be recalled that the villagers of Velsão, Cansaulim, have been opposing the double-tracking project since its inception. The locals have time and again pointed out that the double-tracking will have adverse effects on their ancestral houses and health due to the air pollution and noise pollution due to the trains’ movements, etc.