Goyant
Kollso
Naka

Chandor railway gate · Salcete · 1–2 November 2020

Chandor: the night Goa sat on the tracks

On the night of 1 November 2020, more than 5,000 people walked by candlelight to the railway gate at Chandor, with drums and slogans, to oppose the double-tracking of the line. They held the tracks in an all-night vigil until about 5 am. The coal trains that usually pass through in the dead of night did not run.

The vigil was called under the banner Goyant Kollso Naka. It opposed three projects cutting through Mollem: the rail double-tracking, the NH-4A widening and a 400 kV transmission line. People came from across Goa and across party lines.

Opposition leader Digambar Kamat and Goa Forward's Vijai Sardesai joined the crowd, and people travelled from as far as North Goa.

Police later booked the conveners for unlawful assembly. Goans answered with #ArrestMeToo, asking why a peaceful vigil was being called a riot. The case against ten activists went to trial before the Judicial Magistrate First Class in Margao.

Primeirovaddo, Velsao · Salcete

Velsao: building on land they do not hold

Goa's smallest village is where the second railway track is being pushed hardest. Landowners and the church hold title documents dating to the Portuguese era, still issued by the Revenue Department. South Western Railway has taken the village panchayat, the Fabrica and 44 other landowners to the Inspector of Survey and Land Records in Margao, and the villagers have gone to the District Court.

With both cases pending, work began on pylon foundations on Christmas Day 2025. On 2 January 2026 villagers stopped the contractors, the sarpanch and panchas came to the site and the panchayat issued a stop-work order. RVNL resumed the next morning.

• The railways do not have possession of this land.
• The works now block the only access to more than 20 homes.
• Villagers held a peaceful protest at the Velsao railway crossing on 10 August 2026.

Cansaulim station · Mormugao

Cansaulim: walls down, trees felled, no notice

In November 2025 RVNL machinery entered private ancestral property beside Cansaulim railway station for an underpass linked to double-tracking. A heritage boundary wall was demolished, a water-carrying nullah destroyed and fruit-bearing trees cut. No land-acquisition notice had been issued and no compensation offered.

The landowner's police complaint of 20 November saw no action until the South Goa MP wrote to the police directing that an FIR be registered. Residents and GKN members gathered at the site on 23 November. SWR published its land-acquisition notice six days later.

Bhagwan Mahavir Wildlife Sanctuary · Sanguem & Dharbandora

Mollem: the forest in the way

The Supreme Court has already refused permissions for double-tracking inside protected areas, noting that Krishnapatnam Port is a better alternative for coal. The State keeps coming back. In December 2025 and again in March 2026 the National Board for Wildlife cleared ore handling inside the sanctuary, including at Kalem railway yard. In 2026 the Government sought to lift curbs on forest land for the Kulem–Kalem doubling, and revived four-laning of the highway through Mollem with some 7,000 trees at risk.

In April 2026 the Centre deferred the fresh bid for the Mollem double-tracking nod, citing gaps in the Wildlife Institute of India study.

Vasco · Mormugao · the coastal villages

The coast, the rivers and the air

Residents along the rail route report coal dust from open rakes and falling coconut yields, and Mormugao residents have demanded an immediate halt to coal handling. In January 2026 the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan 2019 maps reached village panchayats with six days for comments. Residents of Arossim, Benaulim and other villages wrote to the Director of Environment asking for at least 60 days.

There have been gains. In February 2026 Goa won back jurisdiction over six waterways under an MoU with the Inland Waterways Authority, one of the demands raised at Lohia Maidan.