I do not know if the author of this post Ignatius Fernandes is aware that it was not any idiot who handed over Dabolim to the Indian Navy. It was a spoil of war. Spoils of wars go to the victors, the vanquished get zilch but have to suffer all manner of indignities.
Mormugao was acquired under the Indian Port Acts of 1908 and 1963. Regarding the islands surrounding Dabolim that are supposedly coveted by the navy, naive people said Pakistanis would never take Bombay and so everyone relaxed. But 26/11 happened and woke a lot of people rudely. The Americans were safe in their beliefs that Mainland America was impregnable, but the twin towers got the hell bombed out of them along with the holy of the holies the Pentagon! Sh1t happens. Better safe and smug than to repent later. As a Goenkar, I resent the loss of land of the Goans in and around Dabolim and Mormugao, but the defence of the country should remain paramount. I also resent loss of Goan lands in other spheres - The millions of square metres of land grabbed for SEZs, sports cities (which hide massive building scams), Mopa Airport, the Russian and Israeli Mafias land grabs, and the so called 'phukat nagars' and food parks and educational hubs, ad nauseam. While the MLAs try portray innocence and altruism in mooting and championing these projects always remember that nothing comes for free. Take the Sports City as a typical example. This is merely an excuse to set up a five star no seven star hotel in the vicinity of the planned Mopa Airport. The buildings which are supposed to house the athletes in reality are flats which will be used for the fortnight of the games and then released to the builder in lieu of payment for the construction of the flats. You can rest assured that the builder has passed these on to his clients for a tidy profit. Result, MLA/ Minister is happy, builder is happy both laughing all the way to the nearest branch of Credit Suisse. The five star/ seven star can boast of a green golf course close to the International Air Port. The poor athletes are left with nothing, the clients who own the flats have shoddy flats and WE the Garib Goans have lost our precious land and livelihoods for a mess of potage. -- Tony de Sa. tonydesa at gmail dot com ^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v^v
