“Jobs in Velsao on land owned by railways, locals yet to produce documents to prove their claim” | So Good News

“Jobs in Velsao on land owned by railways, locals yet to produce documents to prove their claim”

Team Herald

VASCO: Mormugao Deputy Commissioner Ravishekar Nippanikar said on Monday that the railway was working on its own land at Velsao and urged the villagers opposing the double-tracking project to produce documents to prove their claim on the property owned by the railway.

Villagers living along the tracks at Velsao have objected to the railway workers felling the trees and dumping construction material near their houses, claiming that the work was being done on private land.

“I met former panch Ashok Souza, Velsao Sarpanch Maria Gouveia and a local resident Orville Dourado, and informed them that the railways owned the land they were working on, as per the survey plans. Locals have to produce their own land documents to prove their claim to the land, but none of them appeared before me with any documents,” said Nippanikar.

The deputy added that he had assured residents that the railway would maintain any traditional access road that exists in the area.

“I instructed the railways to continue its work as it is being done as per the procedure. This land existed prior to the survey records conducted under the Land Revenue Code 1968 and no one has advanced any claim to the railway property or the existing tracks. People who claim that the railways are encroaching on their private properties must appear before me or the railway authorities with relevant documents, and we can then stop the work and conduct investigations, says Nippanikar.