-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Goa - 2005 Santosh Trophy Champions | | | | Support Soccer Activities at the grassroots in our villages | | Vacationing in Goa this year-end - Carry and distribute Soccer Balls | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- In its Dec 8 edition, NAVHIND TIMES had an editorial titled "Retaining Dabolim". This is a useful extension of the paper's earlier idea that "Goa needs two airports". However I have a few grouses about the present editorial as follows (in order of their appearance in the column):
1. The edit is ostensibly about "Retaining Dabolim" but is actually all about "getting over Mopa". References to "second airport" outnumber those to "two airports", two to one! There should have been much more discussion of Dabolim and not just of Mopa. 2. It glosses over the "over-design" of Mopa which is what visibly threatens a retained Dabolim. We are exhorted to blindly accept that development projects are "always good" and avoid a "myopic view" of statewide development. 3. It glosses over the Union Cabinet decision to close Dabolim once Mopa is ready. This calls into serious question the veracity of the claimed two-airport theory at Mopa's inception in 2000. 4. There is no discussion whatsoever of how traffic (especially international) is to be shared between Dabolim and Mopa apart from generalised statements of rapidly rising aircraft and passenger movements at Dabolim. 5. It glosses over the problem posed by the Navy to civilian traffic at Dabolim by its heavy use of the facility for flight training. Moreover, the expansion that has been achieved over a 40 year period has been practically like pulling teeth. Unless Dabolim can compete with other civilian airports including Mopa on a level footing its future is gloomy. Offers to allow night landings and part with parcels of land are meaningless as long as the Cabinet decision hangs over Dabolim like the proverbial sword of Damocles. 6. The fundamental question of what is the REAL identity of Dabolim -- whether civilian or military -- and what it SHOULD be going forward remains to be addressed meaningfully so that Mopa can be designed and planned accordingly. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- * G * O * A * N * E * T *** C * L * A * S * S * I * F * I * E * D * S * ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Spread the Christmas cheer - even when you're not here! Send Christmas Greetings to your loved ones in Goa. 2005 Christmas Package - Flowers, Bubbles and Layers of Love. http://www.goa-world.com/expressions/xmas/ -----------------------------------------------------------------------
