Hey Mervyn and Tim
First of all both of you seem to know peanuts about Goa so cut out all the
supercilious advice and free unwanted consultancy services and leave us
country bumpkins to fend for ourselves. We are those who have stayed with
our land and have not gone off to seek greener pastures.
About your Alice in Wonderland version of development, that pie in the sky
is what the Uttarakhandis bought and look at them today. So please pay us
the courtesy of believing that we know what we are doing and why we are
doing it or else do your homework properly and don't try to brainwash us
with your half baked versions of westernised transplanted development which
may work for you in your conditions wherever you are in the world God bless
you both. And for your kind information, Mopa is also at the foot of the
ecologically sensitive western ghat region, which needs to be preserved and
protected. The Mopa people, who are all Hindus by the way ,are fighting this
airport tooth and nail, even gone to court and have been coming all the way
from Mopa to Salcete to speak at the various public meetings that have been
held there. There is a huge and flourishing agricultural industry in Mopa
which is filling the people's stomachs very satisfactorily indeed.
Why displace and disrupt people's lives and endanger the ecology of the
place when Dabolim which is already existing, is good enough for Goa' s
civil aviation needs forever. 36,800 square metres of land adjacent to the
airport was notified for parking and other airport expansion. Inexplicably
(well not really, we can all guess why), it was suddenly denotified and
given for commercial construction to a builder with connections in high
places. THere is no essential infrastructure available in Goa. Water, power
is a problem. Recently the government has publicly declared that it cannot
handle the garbage problem. Then why give NOCs for these mega projects when
you cannot provide the necessary services. Better to use the land for
Dabolim expansion rather than give it to a builder when it has already been
notified. And we have heard all the fairy tales about jobs for Goans, but
have yet to reach the "happily ever after" ending.
Please understand that Goans are okay with development, but certainly not
rapacious molestation of the environment which is passed off as development.
Goa is not a prostitute to be used and abused to satisfy the lust and greed
of this generation only. We have to look at it from a long term perspective
of the generations to come.
Diana Pinto
