Under pressure from Opposition and civil society groups over fears of increased coal imports into the state for the purpose of fuelling steel mills in Karnataka’s Bellary district, Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant, as well as top South Western Railway officials on Wednesday, maintained that the quantum of coal imports and transportation through would, in fact, dip in the coming years.
On Wednesday, a day after Goa’s top Congress protested outside the SWR zonal headquarters in Hubbali, in Karnataka, the additional general manager of the railway division also denied reports of an increase in coal transportation on its rail tracks and said that the ongoing track doubling project had more to do with enhancing passenger, logistics and military transport capabilities in the sector.
