------------------------------------------------------- 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 -------------------------------------------------------
Last month a noted humorist (Jug Suraiya) wrote about the "Mandalisation" of our civil aviation and called it India's "air farce". At one level the skies (or rather the airports) are chaotic with first time passengers crowding the aisles stimulated by low fares. At another, invisible level there is a struggle going on between the Indian Air Force (and Navy) and the country's above-mentioned "air farce" for airport and airspace assets. I had written about this in a letter to the editor of TOI (Ahmedabad) on Sept 30, 2006. Ajai Shukla, the Defence correspondent of Business Standard independently elaborated on it in a series of eye-opening articles in Jan/Feb 2007. India's air farce is doing better right now adding 5 planes a month while the military's aircraft acquisition plans proceed at a glacial pace. But the latter is adept at "dropping anchor" and not budging an inch from airports and airpsace. One-third of the operating airports of the country are civil enclaves at bases. Some of these like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Dabolim are in the top ten airports. Fifty percent of the airspace (as much as 70% in Delhi) is controlled by the military. Anyone knows what the status of the parking bay expansion at Dabolim is months after the PM himself signed off on the transfer to AAI? The reason I am asking is because this issue has figured in a recent article in INDIA TODAY (May 21) on the country's "aviation mess". The story begins by recounting the delays experienced by a guy flying from Bombay to Goa. Apparently his outbound flight got delayed (by only 30 minutes compared to the 2 hours on the one on which he came in) because of a lack of a parking slot (presumably for the incoming one) at Dabolim. The problems at the interface between military and civilian aviation have to be recognised if any meaningful progress is to be made in resolving them satisfactorily (balancing economic and security issues) for the long term. Goa can contribute to this if it sits up and keeps an eye on such things. ------------------------------------------------------- Goanet recommends, and is proud to be associated with, 'Domnic's Goa' - A nostalgic romp through a bygone era. This book is the perfect gift for any Goan, or anyone wanting to understand Goa. Distributed locally by Broadway, near Caculo Island, Panjim & internationally by OtherIndiaBookStore.Com. For trade enquiries contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------------------------------------
