This problem basically reflects the "holy cow" attitude to security matters. It applies at the level of the entire Dabolim airport (vis a vis the Navy) and it applies at the lowly level of security check before boarding a flight as in this case. No rational discussion seems possible. These guys seem to be just following the letter of the law but not the spirit. In their preoccupation with cigarette lighters (but not firecrackers) who knows what real security risks the flights to Mumbai and Delhi are running.
Interestingly, the complaint has coincided with a Tourism Ministry campaign to improve attitudes of functionaries like taxi drivers, tourist police etc towards tourists. Goa is reportedly covered in the first phase and the tourism Minister herself was in town recently to kick it off here. Unfortunately there is no mention in the news report of airport security screeners who are undergoing the training. It may even be too late to get them included in this round. But some urgent efforts should be made to include them in future. The paper (HERALD) has even devoted an editorial to the views of the Tourism Minister i.e. regarding the need for more night life. The reason for mentioning this here are twofold. First of all, wonder of wonders, there is a stray reference in it to problems at Dabolim for reasons that will be evident below. But in keepng with the editorial focus on making tourists (rather than service providers) smile, it talks about the holding up of planes full of sweating tourists on the tarmac due to lack of parking space. But in all these months there has been no editorial on the overall Dabolim problem or even the Indian aviation scene. But the second and more unfortunate issue is that the editors seem to have a marked tendency to blow up a simple suggestion into a myriad of problems requiring solution (such as additional Dabolim terminals). In this way all efforts to solve a particular problem are nullified because of such extraneous comments and suggestions. Philip Thomas Ribandar-Goa
