<The people of goa must join forces and give all out support to the efforts of Churchill Alemao and suplement his efforts too in as many ways as possible. The Navy has and always had the option of Sea bird/ Karwar and now of Mopa. Its not for an aeroplane, but definitely too far for people in South Goa!
If Dabolim stops funtioning as a civilian airport and Mopa is taken up, then the people of South Goa might as well migrate to Mangalore, as that is far alike! The whole tourist economy of South Goa will be totally destroyed, and the life for the common man totally miserable. This has been the plan of the BJP wallahs all along to try and punish South Goa 'cause they will not vote for their communal agenda! Please keep fighting for Dabolim alone as the civilian airport in Goa. Its makes sense, stratergic and economic.> [Nasci Caldeira, Feb 15] The issue needs calm and quiet thinking all around and timely, concerted and energetic action. Let's face it, the sky is not about to fall this year or even five years down the line. But the scene may well be different in a decade. If it is to be what the people of Goa want it to be then they have the responsibility to keep thinking about it and update themselves as new information becomes available and not stick lazily to sentimental positions established a long time ago. It has to be accepted that according to the prevailing line of thinking in India, whenever there is a military constraint on an old airport or if private investors want to make a fast buck then the answer seems to be "go for a greenfield airport". So Mopa is on the cards. Its just a matter of time. The trick Goa has to pull off is to keep Dabolim operating as a civilian airport even as preparations for Mopa are underway. This is because for thirty odd years the world has seen the value of close-in secondary airports for low cost carriers. It would be a crying shame if India shut the door on such airports just when low cost air travel was taking off in the country! The problem is joint civilian/military control of airports on the lines of Hawaii's international airport and air force base. Only recently the Air Chief made encouragng noises in Pune about the military appreciating the need to share airport assets. But then we found that lo and behold Pune itself is slated for a greenfield airport! So it is not going to be easy for Goa to swim against the tide of airport project thinking. But it must. The writer's faith in Churchill Alemao's efforts is no doubt touching. But I myself have seen precious little on the Goa aviation front to justify this. Yes, it is time others also pitched in and helped out without waiting to be asked. To begin with all we may have to do is discuss sensibly and get the ducks (and there are many) lined up. Then we have to somehow see that policies conform to agreed upon lines.
