Goa: Tourists stopped from visiting Dudhsagar waterfall; Railways urges them not to walk on tracks

Personnel from the Goa police and the forest department on Sunday stopped several hundred visitors who were walking on railway tracks to reach the picturesque Dudhsagar waterfall, an official said.

The Goa government last week banned people from visiting waterfalls in the state after two persons drowned at Mainapi waterfall in Sanguem taluka. Dudhsagar waterfall is located on Goa-Karnataka border, and the road through the forest has been closed as rivers are in spate.

Several hundred visitors tried to walk along the tracks of the South Western Railway line to reach Dudhsagar after alighting at Collem station in South Goa. All visitors were stopped much ahead of the waterfall by personnel from the police and forest department, a senior official said. Visitors were gearing up to walk 11 km along the railway line to reach to the waterfall, he said.

Following the incident, the South Western Railway released a tweet urging people not to walk along the tracks. “We urge you to savour the beauty of Dudhsagar Falls from within your coach. Walking on/along tracks not only endangers your own safety, but is also an offence under sections 147, 159 of Railway Act. It can also endanger safety of trains,” the South Western Railway tweeted.

Alighting at Dudhsagar or any other station along the Braganza Ghat is prohibited, it stated, requesting passengers to cooperate and follow the rules laid down for their safety.