<The naval authorities have said that demand for shifting was an off shoot of ongoing debate on proposed construction of new airport at Mopa, adding that decision on Mopa rests with central government.>[Goadesc]
A clear misrepresentation of the situation. Mopa is not a recent development. It emerged almost 10 years ago, possibly under Luizinho Faleiro's administration. He is known to have almost given up at the time on getting the Navy to shift from Dabolim. There was also the precedent of Kochi at that time where the Kerala state government had to think of other options when the Navy dug in its heels at the Island airport (which could not be scaled up anway as Dabolim could be). CIAL at Kochi has since gone on to become the only example of a greenfield airport in India. It has also become the (misleading in my opinion in the low cost aviation era) model for greenfield airports with private participation where existing airports have to close down when the new one is commissioned. This has happened in Bangalore and Hyderabad and may happen in Pune. The Navy is probably waiting for this turn of events at Dabolim in the wake of Mopa. Pointing fingers at the central government is interesting. The latter has yet to take a view about Dabolim, post-Mopa, despite Margaret Alva's statement as a party functionary of the Congress. There have been piece meal press reports however about the cosy relations between GOG and the Navy vis a vis both Mopa and Dabolim airports. No inside story about this equation has emerged so far. A recent HERALD article on Navy House, Vasco, seems to very obliquely suggest that the Navy is the (invisible) power (e.g. "White House"!) behind GOG! Worth pondering.
