Velsao-Pale-Issorcim Village Panchayat to approach Supreme Court against railway double-tracking project | So Good News

Velsao-Pale-Issorcim Village Panchayat to approach Supreme Court against railway double-tracking project

The sarpanch told the mediapersons after the gram sabha, that all the villagers should come together to oppose the railway double-tracking project.

Team Herald

MARGAO: In a landmark decision, the Velsao-Pale-Issorcim Village Panchayat gram sabha (GS) passed a resolution for the panchayat to approach the Supreme Court (SC) against the railway’s double-tracking project following two petitions pending before the Bombay High Court at Goa is heard.

Earlier, at the gram sabha, three questions submitted by social activist Roquezinho D’Souza were taken up. The first was whether the panchayat would seek an appeal to the Apex Court regarding the railway issue.

Sarpanch Maria Diana Gouveia responded and stated that since the gram sabha had earlier recommended the panchayat to approach the Supreme Court, the gram sabha should again decide whether to approach the SC or not. Goencho Ekvott (GE) founder Orville Dourado Rodrigues then started a debate by responding to the allegations leveled by a gram sabha member that GE was misleading the public.

Along with Panchayat’s Village Development Committee (VDC) chairman Max De Souza, they explained in detail about the proposed railway expansion plans and how the NGOs were legally opposing the railways since 2018.

Furthermore, Max exposed the lies of an employee of a railroad subcontractor that Saturday’s inspection in the village was the first time anyone had objected to the railroad’s double-tracking through the village.

Max recalled that along with the Village Action Group Against Double Tracking (VACAD), they had several rounds of meetings with even Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Railway Board officials.

Following this, he pointed out that the Chief Minister and then Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral had even walked along the existing tracks, in the company of GE members and then the local MLA Alina Saldanha.

A GS member then recommended that the panchayat should first resolve the legal proceedings in various courts and then decide whether to approach the SC as it would require huge funds.

On that note, Max asked GS to first decide on their obligation to approach the SC. The villagers gathered at the meeting responded in the affirmative that they should seek justice from the SC.

However, there was a heated discussion about the funding of the case, where Max informed the gram sabha that an NGO will pitch in with the funding for the same.

Rodrigues also informed the GS about the huge response from the villagers to oppose double tracking and seek appeal to the SC after the two pending petitions filed by the villagers before the HC were heard. This was agreed to with a show of hands and thunderous applause, without any objections.

The other big issue was about the pathetic state of the Lazaro Souza playground. Here, Roquezinho informed that he would use the good offices of the local MLA Anton Vas to carry out the improvement works for the same.

Rodrigues suggested that local youth should be given priority use of the playground, which was accepted by GS.

The sarpanch told the mediapersons after the gram sabha, that all the villagers should come together to oppose the railway double-tracking project.

Rodrigues also criticized the employee of a railway subcontractor for misleading the MLA by talking about decisions that the said employee could not take and that none of the railway board members could take such decisions. He called it an insult to the public of Cortalim constituency.