<In the 'sixties, the business community of Vasco da Gama came out with a petition against the Navy taking up too much land in the area. ... But is is wholly misleading to suggest that the "large army presence" and the Dabolim airport issue is an argument favouring continued Portuguese rule....As far as the Dabolim airport goes, the Navy -- like any landlord -- is sitting pretty on an asset that few realised the value of till the charter logjam just a few years ago. It's not going to give up its asset and its infrastructure easily, and the deep contradictions within Goan society (take a look at Mopa versus Dabolim) are probably going to just make it easier for them to do so...the battle against forms of colonialism is never over; and, for villagers in Saleli, even the power of Panjim could be seen as a colonial power!..The questions we need to ask is: ...Does our society have checks and balances against politicians or industry running amok and bartering the future for short-term selfish gain? ...>[Fred Noronha]
I was interested in the above points in your discursive post. My questions: 1. Recently HASG complained that 300 acres of land adjacent to Dabolim airport had been given to Zuari. Was this perhaps a result of the agitation you mentioned? 2. The large military presence in Goa may not be an argument in favour of Portuguese rule as you rightly suggest but certainly it may be highly curious if not questionable on any objective security (military/economic) calculus. 3. Your characterisation of the Navy as a "landlord" is a dead giveaway! HASG too recently questioned the need for the Navy to own such vast tracts of land in the vastly changed scenario at the "air station". Recently I heard on a Goa channel that the Navy believes the airport is worth either Rs 70 thousand crores (or Rs 17 thousand crores as the Hindi/Konkani expression escaped me). Is this based on historical cost or market value (i.e. of 1700 acres of Vasco land)? Who spent this money? And what does the Navy enjoy, outright ownership rights or mere administrative control responsibilities "at the President's pleasure"? 4. In view of the above would you consider adding the "military" to the groups needing checks and balances? In the USA they have what is called Base Realignment And Closure (BRAC) where there is some recourse against arbitrariness and a measure to adjust with the times. We dont seem to have anything like that in India. It seems to me that based on the Goa experience of "quasi military rule" (i.e. by choking Dabolim in particular and aviation in Goa in general) it may be high time that such a mechanism was introduced in India too. Perhaps these points may be worth discussing. _____________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. Goanet mailing list ([email protected]) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: %(user_optionsurl)s This email sent to %(user_address)s
