Will scrap rail, road, power projects along Goa-Karnataka border if voted to power: Goa Congress

The party said that the three projects were detrimental to the environment interests in the state

In a major pre-poll announcement, the main opposition party in Goa, the Congress, has said that it would scrap the three controversial rail, road and power projects along the forested Goa-Karnataka border if the party comes to power in the 2022 state assembly polls.

State Congress president Girish Chodankar, on Wednesday, said, that the three projects were detrimental to the environment interests in the state.

"This is our firm commitment to the people," Chodankar told reporters here.

The three projects include rail track expansion by the South Western Railway from Castlerock railway station in Karnataka to Tinaighat railway station in Goa, the National Highway - 4 four-laning and drawing of a power line. All the three projects run through the protected forest areas in both Goa and Karnataka territories which are a part of the UNESCO-endorsed Western Ghat region.

50,000 trees in and around Mollem, a village located along the Goa-Karnataka border, have been slotted for felling to make way for the three government projects, which have been cleared by the state and the central government's Ministry for Environment and Forests.

Activists as well as opposition politicians in Goa have been demanding a review of the three projects, claiming that they were hurriedly granted permission during the pandemic, without due diligence.

Opponents of the projects had alleged that the doubling tracking of railway tracks and expansion of the National Highway 4 would lead to increased transportation of coal imported to the Mormugao Port Trust in South Goa to steel mills in Karnataka's Bellary region.

"It is the duty of the Congress party to protect the identity of Goa and we will live up to the expectations of the people. Our state is blessed with nature and it is our responsibility to preserve our land," Chodankar also said.

Chodankar also placed two other promises by his party in the public domain, one of which included ensuring fresh, formalin-free fish to the residents of Goa. The promise comes three years after fish imported into the state from Karnataka, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, were found to have traces of formalin, a carcinogenic chemical used to preserve cadavers.