http://oheraldo.in/node/9237
For Goa's sake With the Mopa Vimanthal Nirdhar Samithi issuing a ultimatum to the government over restarting work in Pernem, it is pertinent to ask "what will the government do now.'' It will also be pertinent to ask "what work was started that has to be restarted." And it will also be pertinent to ask "is this ultimatum based on hard facts or is it another political battle between two parties.'' It is pertinent to get some answer to these questions because if one is not mistaken, it was just a couple of months ago that the leader of the Opposition Manohar Parrikar was siding with Churchill Alemao in saying that Dabolim should be retained and that Mopa should go. So now why the sudden volte face and why is he, leading the BJP charge, against Dabolim and an airport at Mopa and during his tenure as Chief Minister was he not aware of the growing air traffic and why did he not act then? Agreed Goa does need an airport, with better infrastructure facilities to handle the increasing number of flights that are coming here. During the past one year itself, two new airlines started operations to Goa – Kingfisher Airlines and GoAir. In addition the number of charters too have increased and the load on Dabolim Airport is increasing daily. The issue at stake is – does Dabolim have the infrastructure to handle the increasing load. The answer is no. The other issue – why Mopa because it was the only suitable place to host an airport and this site was chosen by a consultative committee. Sadly these basic points have been glossed over and the tussle is now a fight between North and South Goa and is slowly degenerating into a slanging match between political parties and politicians. No doubt the decision by the state government to form a committe to look into the feasibility of Mopa is a right decision. However the BJP's stance that they will continue the agitation just shows that they want to make political mileage out of it and not work for the interests of Goa. -- Salaam ali kum. Gabe Menezes. London, England
