Sao Jose De Areal: Fighting back railway double tracking in its backyard

Alcina Pereira puts her hands on her ears, and closes her eyes with a grimace as another train passes by. The frail, 72-year-old is sitting in her parents’ ancestral home, in the Roilla ward of Sao Jose de Areal, a stone’s throw away from the South Western Railway track. Agile and graceful for her age, she quickly gets up to close the doors and windows, shutting out the afternoon sun.

“This one track is causing so much pollution and noise. Imagine the damage two such tracks would do,” she says.

ACQUIRING LAND

Local residents say officials from the Collectorate of South Goa came knocking on some doors in May this year, asking them to sign blank consent forms. The form indicated the residents’ consent to transfer a certain part of their land to the government of Goa “for setting up a public project viz Collem-Margao Doubling of South Western Railway.” According to railway officials, a total of 64 people have been asked to sign the form from the village, out of which 12 have given their consent.

In a report titled “Master Plan for Mormugao” prepared for the Central Ministry of Shipping, published in August 2016, the railways had sanctioned grants for doubling the 300km track running from Vasco da Gama (Mormugao Port Trust MPT) to Hospet in Karnataka a few years ago. In order to initiate the process, land acquisitions are required. Known as Project Goa, it comes under the supervision of Rail Vikas Nigam Limited, a Government of India enterprise. 

The railway doubling project, according to the report, is part of Mormugao Port Trust development plan, to increase its capacity of handling and carriage of cargo, a majority of which is coal.

The 40-km railway stretch between Kulem and Margao passes through 11 villages. A mix of private and government land is required from these villages. As of November 24, 2017, they require a total of 23,888 sq mts of government land, and 64,799 sq mts of private land between Kulem and Margao. Railway officials say while the land acquisitions are in different stages under the Land Acquisition Act 2013, out of the 11 villages, the strongest dissent is seen from the village of Sao Jose de Areal. They say if the Land Acquisition Act doesn’t work, they will apply Section 20A of Railways Act 1989 to acquire the required land.

As of November 24, 2017, they have confirmed that they require 3338 sq mts plus 7183 sq mts of additional land in Sao Jose de Areal.

On September 27, they came to the village to take measurements, but were sent back by the residents, who formed a crowd around the officers.

According to Chapter 4 - Notification and Acquisition of the Land Acquisition Act 2013, 

“Whenever, it appears to the appropriate Government that land in any area is required or likely to be required for any public purpose, a notification (hereinafter referred to as preliminary notification) to that effect along with details of the land to be acquired in rural and urban areas shall be published in the following manner, namely:-

(a) in the Official Gazette; 

(b) in two daily newspapers circulating in the locality of such area of which one shall be in the regional language; 

(c) in the local language in the Panchayat, Municipality or Municipal Corporation, as the case may be and in the offices of the District Collectorate the Sub-divisional Magistrate and the Tehsil;

(d) uploaded on the website of the appropriate Government; 

(e) in the affected areas, in such manner as may be prescribed.”

In an interview on October 15, the village Sarpanch Perrys D’Costa stated that the Collectorate officials did not come through the Panchayat for consent forms. “They got someone to help them to identify the houses and just went in and asked people to sign the forms. They should not have done that,” he says.

“We are totally opposing all kinds of work on the railways,” says Fidelis Fredy Travasso, 45. Fondly known as Fredy, he is a native of the village and member of the Village Development Committee of the Village Panchayat. 

“We have two railway lines crossing through our village   the South West Railway and the Konkan Railway. None of these have been of any real benefit to us,” he said.

Apart from double tracking, a railway by-link connecting Konkan Railway to South Western, a railway platform and a railway yard construction is also under consideration in the village.

“The South West Railway was never supposed to pass through our village anyway. It was supposed to go through Navelim, according to the Regional Plan of 2001. But politicians had their way,” he said.

“We did not have much knowledge then. Things are very different now.”

THE STORY OF SAO JOSE 

DE AREAL

Sao Jose de Areal, or “the vast land of Saint Joseph” is an ancient tribal village, with an area of approximately 12 sq km. It lies about 8 km east of Margao, in the Salcete taluka of south Goa. According to the 2014 census, its population was approximately 15,000. A majority of its people belong to the ST tribes. Their main occupation has always been agriculture, tending to vast tracts of paddy fields. The village has 11 wards. 

The village has witnessed a steady influx of outsiders ever since industries began to establish their base.

“Our village has been devastated by major acquisitions of land for different purposes over the last many years,” says Julio Monteiro, 41, former Sarpanch of the village.

“Land acquisitions began to happen after 1961,” he says. “It was mostly acquired for railways, the irrigation canal, the PWD pipeline, and many industries. They cut down our hills and cleared our forests and cultivable land.”

Some of the major functioning industries include the coke calcination plant of Goa Carbon Limited, Bhagwati cement manufacturing, and a fish canning firm. Many industries have been shut down and are now mostly used as godowns or dumping grounds. The village is dotted with scrapyards, quarries, and stone crushers, with tracts of agricultural land and residential areas in between. According to the locals, over the last few years, several illegal housing projects have cropped up in the village.

Owing to the harmful nature of industries, the village folk have suffered from a number of problems over the years, and have been fighting several issues, including coal pollution, industries draining their sewage waste directly into agricultural fields, existence of illegal scrap yards, quarries, crusher units, and housing projects. 

THE SOUTH WEST RAILWAY

Currently, two railway lines, the South Western Railway, and the Konkan Railway cut through the village. While there is no station in the village for the Konkan line, the South Western Railways has a small station, where local trains stop for a few minutes. The 300 km SWR line stretches from Mormugao Port Trust in Vasco till Hospet in Karnataka, and is used as a passenger as well as cargo carrier, a majority of which is coal. Trains run through several times a day. There is no foot-bridge nor any underpass for people to cross across the tracks. 

The railway line forms a prominent part of people’s lives. Apart from having an entire ward living next to it, it is also close to the village church and chapel. People have to cross the tracks several times a day to get somewhere. In the absence of a proper pedestrian bridge, they have placed narrow planks of wood and metal to cross over. Construction of an overbridge has been their demand for several years. 

“We have to cross the tracks several times a day, to get to places. We have requested for an underpass or an overbridge for several years now, and they want to build another track instead!” exclaims Berta Cardozo. The 37-year-old housewife and mother of two has to park her scooty near the chapel six days a week, for ease of travel for dropping and picking up her children from school at the neighbouring village of Curtorim, and for other daily chores.

“There is no hospital, no super market, nor bus stops close by. When they talk of development, can’t they think of these things instead?” she says.

Residents also fear that a second track so close to their houses will weaken the foundations of their structures.

“It will weaken the very foundation of my house,” says Zenita Pereira, 41, whose house is the first in line of the tracks. “The existing noise and coal pollution affects me,” she said.

THE COAL PROBLEM

Alcina Fernandes, 42, lives somewhere between the Goa Carbon Ltd plant and the SWR tracks. A visit to her house after a shower of rain is enough to explain the persistence of coal dust prevalent in the region. Her flowers and homegrown vegetables are sprinkled with coal dust. Her home has a layer of dust everywhere. Her balcony and terrace have lumps of coal. “It has been this way since the 1990s,” says the former Sarpanch. “We have been fighting this for a while.”

Goa Carbon Ltd established its plant in Sao Jose de Areal in 1976. It is listed as a public limited company and is in the business of manufacture and marketing of Calcined Petroleum Coke. The Goa plant boasts of having the largest mechanical sieving and screening facilities for petcoke in India. Trucks of coal come from MPT, and are transferred to the plant daily. Over the years, residents of Areal have raised their voice against the carbon dust pollution created by the plant.

According to an investigation carried out by national daily The Indian Express, the railway line currently carries 11 million tonnes of coal, of which 10.11 million tonnes belong to Jindal group and the remaining to Adani, a capacity that the Mormugao Master Plan report suggests is set to increase to 30 million tonnes by 2030.

THE FIGHT BACK

“We are not going to let this happen,” says a determined Fredy. “The authorities cannot fool us. There has been no mention of this doubling of tracks anywhere in any of the regional plans. Plus, it will cause a lot of problem to our villagers. Already the single track is a menace to many. We will not let this happen.”

On October 15, the Village Panchayat held a Special Extraordinary Gram Sabha, attended by over 300 people of the village. Everyone unanimously voted against the double tracking and related railway projects. The entire Panchayat hall was filled to the brim — men, women, children, elderly were present, carrying banners of protest. The atmosphere was electric, and the unanimous voice against double tracking reverberated the entire space.

“Our job now is to maintain a vigil,” says Fredy. “A few weeks ago in November, some workers came with a crane and started digging and levelling the ground with mud, putting up poles at the far end of the railway tracks. We sent them back.”

“We are not against development,” he says. “But we want it to be in a planned manner, and ensure the benefit of our village. So far, it seems this whole project is for the benefit of a few.”

“If we are opposing this, people are opposing this, why they want this track?” asks Berta.

“They are not thinking about the public. They are thinking about their own self. They are not thinking about the future generation. They are thinking only to fill their stomach.”

“The railway by-link, the railway platform and the double tracking of SWR are all part of coal infrastructure, and will destroy our village, displace local communities and harm our agricultural lands.” said Tenny Paul Fernandes during the last Gram Sabha meeting held on Sunday, November 19. 

“We are already suffering from the ill-effects of increase in carbon dust particles from Goa Carbon factory, illegal mega housing projects, scrapyards and polluting industrial estates. We are still fighting against all this and do not want more calamities,” he said. 

The 34-year-old is a resident of the village and an active member of the Village Development Committee of the Panchayat.  During the last Gram Sabha, three resolutions were passed unanimously — opposing double tracking, handling of coal and nationalisation of rivers. 

“It seems as if they took the name of the village too seriously — Areal, barren land,” says Julio with a laugh. “Everyone just started establishing industries here. The truth is that this land is not barren. It has immense potential. This has been a beautiful land of our ancestors. We have to protect it, protect Goa, and we will fight this.”