1.<According to sources in the secretariat, the file was not returned by the office of the Chief Minister till late this evening and as such the revenue department officials could not issue the necessary notification to keep the process alive. The government had issued notification under Section 4 of land Acquisition Act on January 25, 2005, for acquiring land for the project and the second notification (under Section 6) had to be issued by today to keep the process alive but since the notification was not issued today the whole process lapsed. With the process lapsing the future of the Mopa airport project hangs in balance as a sizable portion of the land sought to be acquired was needed for runway. If the government decides to go ahead with the project the whole process for acquiring land measuring 23 lakh square meters have to be initiated again and it would take nearly a year to complete the process again, which would delay the project.>
Did the CM 'nod off' in this whole process? Sloppy work! It seems to be an attempt to fob off the public into believing that he was actually interested in moving the Mopa project forward but missed the deadline by the skin of his teeth. He couldnt have wanted to halt the project because in that case he would have just sat on the file or returned it without signing! Oh well .... 2.<In another development, senior government officials expressed fears that Goa could lose the project as Maharashtra and Karnataka have shown eagerness to set up international projects in areas nearer to Goa. The officials also expressed fears that if the international airport project comes in the vicinity nearer to Goa than there was possibility of Dabolim airport losing the international airport status as facilities there could not be raised to meet set global standards.> I dont know about Karnataka, but Maharashtra is focusing on a new airport at Navi Mumbai in addition to modernisation of Mumbai airport. Besides this it is interested in Nagpur and Chakan/Pune airport projects. So the talk of an airport near the Goa border is a red herring floated by the pro-Mopa lobby. Karnataka is already going ahead with an upgrade to Belgaum. Thus will be a domestic facility. Thus as for Dabolim losing its international status to these interlopers , the possibility seems remote at present.
