Jinxed Goan sector derails Konkan dream

PANAJI, July 30: For its supporters, the Konkan railway project means a boon for the Goan and Konkan economy. But its opponents at least in...

PANAJI, July 30: For its supporters, the Konkan railway project means a boon for the Goan and Konkan economy. But its opponents at least in Goa have been trying to project it as a curse.

Whether it is really a “boon” or a “bane” will be decided when the project makes a start. Indeed, the big question is: When will this project become fully operational?

After revising commissioning dates eight times during last two years, the authorities have given up making any announcements setting fresh dates. As things stand, the 7660 km line linking Mangalore with Mumbai is complete. It is the 105 km track in the Goa sector that is coming in the way of making this project fully operational.

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Bad luck dogged the controversy-hit rail route in the Goa sector from the start. To begin with, there was prolonged agitation over the coastal alignment which led to the suspension of the work for over nine months.

After the work started in full swing, there were problems of sinking bankments and tunnels collapsing with alarming regularity which delayed the work.

Now even as the work is in final stages of completion, rains are playing havoc in the completed sections of the track. During the last few weeks, major landslides occurred in three places of Mashem, Bali and Sirigae, burying large portions of the track under the debris, and raising questions of safety of railway operations once the trains start moving.

Due to land slippages at Mashem, the newly introduced passenger service from Mangalore to Canacona remains suspended for the last three weeks. The planned inauguration of Mangalore-Margao section may also have to wait. The section between Sawantwadi and Ratnagiri is having similar problems leading to suspension of services in that sector.

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During his visit to Goa for the inauguration of the Margao railway overbridge, Union Minister of Railways Ram Vilas Paswan said that he was hoping to get the “missing link” from Canacona to Pornem ready soon, and expected the first train to roll on August 15. When the KRC got down to business on October 10, 1990, the authorities promised that the line would be built in four years. Today in the seventh year of construction, there is still no light at the end of the tunnel in Pornem, which along with the old Goa tunnel made maximum demands on KRCB.