MOPA: Buy Rs 3000 crore Airport; Get Rs 20,000 crore Real Estate free 84 lakh sq m Mopa land was acquired under Land Acquisition Act, 1894 solely for the public purpose of airport. The Government has now disclosed in the RFQ that it will allot 15.4 lakh sq-m of this land for non-airport purposes. The Real Estate expense is further bloated by un-mindful and unprecedented increase in FAR from 60% to 400%. Such an ill-conceived monstrous-city will be disharmonious with pristine Goa and unsustainable in the vicinity of sensitive ecology of the Western Ghats. People of Goa are aware that the proposed cost of Airport is only Rs 3000 crore, while the cost of non-aviation Real Estate would be over Rs 20,000 crore. Summarily, Mopa is less of an Airport and more of a Real Estate project akin to SEZs, which were banished from Goa years ago
Goans can easily read the designs of corrupt politicians, who are trying to perpetrate a Real Estate scam in the garb of an Airport. The developers participating in the RFQ also must realize this anti-people, anti-environment, arbitrary and illegal plan of Goa’s corrupt politicians. In the past, many Real Estate scams in the guise of SEZs were foiled by the alert Goans. The said SEZs having been declared illegal by the Courts and the promoters are pleading for compensation against their investments. The businessmen must know that “doing business” is a mere “privilege” and the “protection from arbitrary acts of the politicians” is the “right” of the people enshrined in the Constitution of India. GFDO hereby makes the developers attending the Mopa Airport pre-bid meeting that it would be solely their risk and responsibility if they commit or invest on the basis of arbitrary or illegal offers by the politicians. Public at large, which is the “sovereign” in India; reserve their right to get such arbitrary or illegal acts struck down either through the people’s court or through the process of judicial review. The public at large or its trustee “the government” will not be liable for any losses they may incur on account of any arbitrary or anti-people act of the corrupt politicians. Creating an illusion of “airport” in a largely “non-aviation Real Estate project” itself speaks of the colourable exercise of powers on part of the politicians. Fr Eremito Rebelo Convenor, GOANS FOR DABOLIM ONLY
