Here is a new trend in airport journalism in India. Praising the new and trashing the old. Check what Anjuli Bhargava had to say about the new Rajiv Gandhi international airport at Hyderabad vis a vis the old Begumpet airport: <On March 16, residents of Hyderabad will wake up to a new airport. The doors of the old and shabby Begumpet airport will close forever and India's first modern, gleaming and hassle-free airport at Shamshabad (22 km from the city centre) will show what can be possible if someone puts their mind to it.> http://www.sadanapalli.net/blog/2008/02/16/hyderabads-gleaming-new-airport/ Now listen to Somini Sengupta writing in the New York Times about Bangalore: <For years, frequent fliers in this technology hub complained bitterly about having to suffer the indignities of a tattered and tiny airport scrunched in the middle of a busy city neighborhood.> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/world/asia/22bangalore.html?em&ex=12116016 00&en=6a54d957d2eb4a2a&ei=5087%0A
Goa's Dabolim seems well on its way to providing grist for this novel journo tradition. Today's TOI had a front page story headlined "Dabolim may witness chaos in tourist season". It goes on to say: "Officials at the airport are worried that if the upgradations, approved two years back, are not implemented immediately, handling next season's traffic will be difficult". I will save you the gory details except to point out that if what the Dabolim airport officials say is right then the air traffic there has doubled in three years -- just as it did in IT capital Bangalore! How about that. But the "blame" for the severe congestion is placed squarely on dithering by the Navy. You see, "..the land required is yet to be transferred" by the latter. Besides there is the allusion to blocking civilian flights for five weekday mornings plus two weekday evenings (even without fighter planes or trainers!). So when the Mopa pie-in-the-sky is ready 5 years down the line you can well imagine how eloquently our local journos will be able to wax in cooking up their headlines and trashing poor ole Dabs in their lead paras. How can any self-respecting Goan tolerate this looming indignity? On a more serious note, here is how a recent update of the Dabolim airport page in wikipedia put the land issue: <Meanwhile the Navy's title to Dabolim airport land has been questioned by a Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) of Goa in relation to the plan to relocate the civil enclave to the Mopa civilian airport on the grounds that it is the state government of Goa which authorises land transfers in its jurisdiction. He has disclosed that the Navy "literally" makes the state government and the Airports Authority of India "beg" for land needed at the airport. This made it imperative to establish the clear title to the airport land (Panjim HERALD, May 13, 2008, p.2).http://www.oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=3903&cid=26 The delays were apparently due to the structuring of these Dabolim deals as land-for-land at the instance of the Navy. This is in contrast to inter-governmental adjustments based on situation-specific military security assessments and demonstrable civilian needs.> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dabolim The bottom line: Pls do keep Dabolim and Mopa in your prayers.:)
