MARGAO: Facing severe flak from the public for its failure to provide safe crossing for pedestrians at Curchorem, the Railways has found the easiest way to wriggle out of the situation. It has blocked all openings along the retaining walls to prevent pedestrians from crossing the tracks. However, by failing to provide any alternative safe pedestrian crossing facility before blocking access to the tracks, the Railways has only served in increasing the hardships of the locals, residents told TOI.
Following an accident where a local came under the wheels of a train and yet survived, the railway authorities swung into action and erected iron railings to plug gaps along the retaining walls on either side of the track. What the Railways, however, failed to consider is that scores of locals, including students, have been routinely walking across the tracks to get to the other side of the railway line. With Railways blocking their only access, a large number of locals have found themselves blocked-in.
“This is absurd,” a resident told TOI. “It’s understandable that safety measures have to be put in place on the double tracked route, but blocking access without providing any alternative pedestrian crossing facility is unacceptable.”
While the Railways has eliminated the level crossing at Curchorem and has provided a road under bridge (RUB) for vehicles nearly a kilometer away, and construction of a bridge for two-wheelers is underway at the old level crossing site, no such alternative provision is provided for pedestrians. With retaining walls built on either side of the double tracked route, pedestrians are thus compelled to walk along long stretches of the railway tracks and cross them where the retaining walls end, something that is fraught with severe risk to life. The Railways has now erected railings to close these gaps in the retaining walls.
Villagers have demanded that the Railways provide a safe pedestrian crossing facility at a convenient location before closing their only access to cross the tracks by foot.
Curchorem MLA and PWD minister Nilesh Cabral said he has brought the situation to the notice of the railway authorities. “(Rajya Sabha MP) Vinay Tendulkar alongwith railway officials will soon be inspecting the site to explore the possibility of constructing a walkway-like structure across the tracks,” Cabral told TOI.
