------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | New on Goanet's website's A&E section - http://www.goanet.org | | Book in Review: A Kind of Absence - Joao da Veiga Coutinho | | POEM: SUSEGAAD - Cynthia Gomes James | | http://www.goanet.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=216 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's HERALD had this fine letter titled "Mopa; A Game" by Jesuin George Fernandes of Cansaulim. I will not reproduce it here in its entirety but will excerpt the concluding lines which read as follows:
" Ironically the only authority that can decide whether the Navy needs to stay put or or can shift elsewhere is the Navy itself. And dont they simply love it here?" Reminds me of the offbeat Macdonald's TV commercial punch line "I'm simply loving it"! More importantly, he prefaces his conclusion with the point that "market forces in combination with the anti-Dabolim forces will assure that Dabolim as a civilian airport facility will die a natural death after the new airport [at Mopa] in spite of assurances [that Dabolim will continue]." He asks: "For how long will the central government be able to keep Dabolim on a 'respirator'?" I believe that we need not take the pessimistic stance that the dabolim civil enclave will die a natural death once Mopa emerges. Out-of-the-box thinking and action has to go into MAKING Dabolim and Mopa function in tandem over the long haul. This is what the Prime Minister should be working on over the next 6 months in which he has to decide on Mopa-Dabolim. Some specific steps to be taken: 1. Revocation of the Union Cabinet's March 2000 decision to level the Mopa-Dabolim playing field. 2. Expediting Defense Ministry's offer to part with land beginning with extra parking space for 6 more civilian planes. Later the runway can be widened, deepened and added to as needed. 3. Trashing the ICAO/ADPI design of Mopa as an A380 airport and having it recast in "Dabolim + Mopa" terms (not either/or) after deciding on relative roles of the two airports for the long term and keeping the needs of low cost air travel in mind. 4. Pushing the Defense Ministry to de-congest Dabolim airport on a war footing including exploring and expediting alternatives such as Kochi, Seabird etc providing budgetary support for this purpose. 5. Pushing the Civil Aviation Ministry to gear Dabolim up for night flights as expected by the Navy along with expansion of parking bays by the latter as per 2 above. Also the Ministry has to urgently keep in mind the needs of international tourism. 6. Pushing the Surface Transport Ministry to expedite plans for expressways, 4-laning or whatever to properly connect Dabolim and Mopa as soon as Mopa is ready 7. Ensuring that the air traffic sharing arrangement will make BOTH Dabolim and Mopa viable over the LONG RUN and putting in place effective mehanisms to monitor and take remedial action. 8. Any other measures which I may have missed. Thinking and acting along lines such as the above will go a long way to avoid the eventuality which people like Jesuin foresee and ensure that desirable outcomes materialise.
