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Areal locals fume over cutting of trees by railway authority

the goan I network | JANUARY 18, 2018, 01:31 AM IST

MARGAO

Residents of Sao Jose de Areal are up in arms against the Railway Vikas Nigam Ltd’s act of chopping down trees standing in the railway property track doubling.   

 Villagers questioned the officials for undertaking the clearing of the trees when they had asked the railways to first produce before the village panchayat plans of the land acquired and already in possession of the railway.   

 A local villager Freddy Tavares told The Goan that the railway officials have cut down a couple of trees without producing documents pertaining to the land acquired by the Railways. “At our meeting held last year, the VP as well as the villagers had unequivocally asked the railway officials to produce the relevant documents, stating that the land in possession with the railways is acquired by the government,” Freddy said, while lamenting that the railway authorities have till date not submitted a single document.   

 When The Goan contacted the Deputy General Manager, Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd, Shashibushan Sahoo, he was quick to point out that the trees have been cleared with due permission to pave way for the double tracking project. “The trees that have been cut down were standing on the land already acquired by the railways. No development has been done in the land proposed to be procured or acquired by the railways,” Sahoo said.   

 When his attention was drawn to the demand of the villagers that the railways produce the necessary documents, Sahoo said this is a matter falling in the domain of the state government. “I have nothing to say since the land in question was acquired by the state government. What we are doing is paving the way for the double tracking project,” he said, while making it clear that the railways have not entered the land which is proposed for acquisition in Sao Jose de Areal.   

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