<In a letter to MP Churchill Alemao, the Union civil aviation minister has further sought to put to rest the controversy over the ownership of Dabolim airport saying, "the existing airport at Dabolim belongs to Indian Navy and the Airports Authority of India maintains a civil enclave only." Patel further says the present airport is basically meant for defence purposes and that the naval authorities are unable to spare more time slots for operation of international chartered flights due to defence commitments and training requirements of the naval base.> --------- This story can best be visualised as a tale of three bluffs. The first one now stands completely exposed by a virtual confession by the civil aviation minister himself. This is that (1) the plan for Mopa was never designed to 'supplement' Dabolim but to substitute for it and (2) the plan for Dabolim's upgrade was just a fake temporary political sop. He should delete Dabolim from the upgrade of 10 non-metro airports without further ado! The Civil Aviation Minister's credibility regarding civil aviation in India is now at stake.
The second bluff is what Churchill risks running now that the civil aviation minister has opened his own hand. He has to stop Mopa somehow or else it will result in Dabolim being closed as surely as God made apples. The latter must not happen. Just think of what the AAI feels about handing off Juhu airport thirty years ago as being of no aviation use. Now people are wanting the agreement with GMR in Hyderabad to be re-cast to allow Begumpet to continue to operate after HIAL is ready. And in Bangalore the Civil Aviation Minister is himself asking the Siemens consortium to revise terminal capacity at BIAL because the phasing was too conservative. The same result could have been achieved if HAL airport was planned to be continued and upgraded and not shut down as Begumpet (and Dabolim) are going to be. All this again confirms that the Civil Aviation Minster's credibility about civil aviation in India is at stake. The third bluff is a tough one to rectify as its perpetrator has been successfully engaging in it for 40 years and seems set to do so for another few years or at least until Dabolim actually shuts down with the connivance of the Civil Aviation Minister. Then we can witness the spurt of a new kind of tourism in Goa thanks to Dabolim! And it will be said with a straight face that this will help Goa.
