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Hi Philip,
There seem to be two issues here:
* Legal position of Dabolim (traditional ownership, whether this was changed at any point, if so when and how)
* Current day requirements of the Indian Navy.
Would you agree that both these are quite separate issues?
Even if the Navy has a legitimate requirement, it would not justify taking over what was meant to be a civilian airport (assuming this is the case).
While our British-legacy colonial time laws have stood post-1947 governments in good stead (the Railways Act gives the authorities virtually-unchallengeable powers), a strong case could be made out if it could be shown that Dabolim was infact a civilian airport.
To be fair, I think this issue is being raised only in recent years, after the tourism lobby began feeling the pinch. Some may find it very easy to blame politicians (and even the Press) for any and every failing of today's Goa. But, I personally don't believe that civil society in this part of the world is active enough in shaping the issues that are of importance to Goa and her people.
Thank you for the clarity you lend to this debate. FN
On Fri, 22 Oct 2004, Philip Thomas wrote:
RESPONSE TO FRED NORONHA'S OF OCT 21
I feel that what you call "the case for placing economic and societal needs ahead of military assumptions" might hinge on establishing that the Airport is being used for a non-unique though mission critical purpose. Military flight training sounds to me like such a purpose. It ought to be substituted by flight simulators and a different naval air base e.g Seabird.
However, I have recently learned that the Coast Guard has also made Dabolim the base for its squadron! What is the link, if any, between the Navy and the Coast Guard, when did they move into Dabolim and on what terms? It should be clear that we are only concerned about Dabolim "airport". Nobody is suggesting that the Navy move its ENTIRE base out of Vasco. As it is Dabolim airport is reputedly the Navy's largest (and perhaps the only?) airbase.
