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The posting of Goan Voices dated Oct 17 on the subject is greatly appreciated. To me the interesting points it makes are to be found in the remarks attributed to Rear Admiral Mehta in 1996 at the end of the Goanet posting. These are: 1) that the value of Dabolim Airport is of the order of Rs.25K crores i.e. $5 billion which seems extraordinarily high for a naval air station. A global comparison might be useful as a reality check, 2) there have been "discussions" (or rather, monologues) on the subject with the Navy simply putting its foot down and refusing to budge. But no one has yet seen fit to ask any awkward questions persistently about the use of the facility by the Navy, 3) a "lease agreement" is mentioned against which some "compensation" has reportedly been paid. Apparently the civil aviation ministry has leased the airport to the ministry of defence. But what does this compensation consist of -- lumpsum or periodic -- and what are the other terms like duration etc apart from non-interference in naval flight operations, 4) the most interesting of the lot, the Rear Admiral's solemn assurance that the Navy would not allow Goa's tourist activities to suffer and, in the very next breath, his gratuitous advice to the state to steer clear of backpacker type tourists. This precisely is the crux of the problem. Is the Navy in Goa focusing on its national security mission or getting distracted by the onerous demands (perhaps including financial) of civilian flight imperatives? This is what future discussions should focus on. The options of Seabird for the Navy and Mopa for civilian purposes have also to be pursued simultaneously. The only difference being that the former would require the Navy to shift out of Dabolim but the latter would be in addition to Dabolim operations. In fact, I personally would hope that Dabolim would function as a purely domestic airport (for numerous low fare travellers) while Mopa could be purely an international airport. The 100km distance between the two would of course have to be bridged somehow with good ground and perhaps helicopter transport facilities. The excuse that runway length at Seabird would be inadequate due to topography should not be accepted. I have seen a small hill been demolished practically overnight in my backyard recently. In national security interests perhaps the topography of Karwar could also be modified sufficiently. Btw, is Seabird coming up on a war footing or at a snail's pace? More power to the voices for the Navy's shift out of Dabolim airport!