------------------------------------------------------- CONVENTION OF THE GOAN DIASPORA FROM GOA INTO THE WORLD Lisbon, Portugal June 15-17, 2007 Details at: http://www.goacom.org/casa-de-goa/noticias.html -------------------------------------------------------
TOI headline (12/5/07): "Leave airport to slum dwellers: Hsg minister". Excerpts: "For close to 30 minutes [Minister of State for Housing] Shegaonkar argued with state officials .. how it was not a good idea to relocate the slums from the airport land. 'After all they have been living there for decades' Shegaonkar is understood to have said....'[And] after all they are our votes. Where do WE go if these people are shifted out from here' [emphasis mine].... At the meeting Shegaonkar also suggested that instead of expanding Mumbai airport the focus should be on constructing a new airport at Navi Mumbai." Shades of Dabolim! The difference is in the sophistication of the squatters (the investment is supposedly astronomical) and the security card (instead of vote banks). Maybe the same holds true at Hyderabad's Begumpet airport if the Nizam connection of yore is anything to go by.
