Integrity Score 170
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What do you do when the Government forcibly tries to lay a railway track through the backyard of dozens of heritage homes over 200-450 years old? What do you do when a posse of railway gangmen and policemen descend on your quiet, unpolluted, pristine, green village by the sea to force unwanted development? You send out an early morning WhatsApp message saying Plz support our campaign: www.olenciosimoes.com. That is what Olencio Simoes has been doing day after day.
On Saturday, Indian Railway and Goa Police officials descended on the sleepy villages of Velsao, Pale and Cansaulim yet again to survey, or in simple words demarcate territories that Modi’s Govt wants to forcibly acquire to lay a parallel track that would take over 100 rakes of coal through these eco-sensitive villages round the clock. The fact that Goa’s lone major port Mormugao is rapidly turning into India’s biggest coal hub majorly held by Adani isn’t coincidental. What is disturbing is that the single track now comfortably transports over 36 rakes of coal every day enough for the Port. But then hey, Yeh Dil Maange More (This Heart wants even more).
The sinister double-tracking is giving sleepless nights to thousands of farmers, fishermen, senior citizens and traditional folks whose ancestral lands are being overrun by Railways. Scores of old Portuguese Mansions and Heritage Homes that are Goa’s living history will either have to be razed to lay railway tracks or will have coal-laden trains thundering through the night shaking these heritage structures to crumble down. The fact that these houses are homes to influential Catholic families who are fighting a majoritarian hegemony of BJP isn’t a coincidence either.
Simoes, General Secretary of National Fishermen’s Forum has been championing the fight of the traditional fishermen against bringing a ban on destructive methods of fishing viz bull trawling, LED light fishing and High-speed engines and also is at the forefront of the village’s fightback https://youtu.be/Tgd72QQ5Gtc against double-tracking that will scar Goa’s only and most beautiful train ride by the sea - permanently.
No wonder that even Rahul Gandhi stopped to pick up chunks of coal during his recent trip to Goa.