In the ongoing debate raging over Goa's international airport, a group of citizens from Margao and Verna met with Margaret Alva and handed her a memorandum on the subject, with a copy to South Goa MP Churchill Alemao. We reproduce below the memorandum for your information
September 1, 2005 Ms. Margaret Alva, General Secretary, AICC, Goa Desk, Panaji, G O A SUB: A MEMORANDUM DEMANDING THAT THE GOA GOVERNMENT MAKE AN URGENT REPRESENTATION TO THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE SEEKING THE SHIFTING OF THE NAVAL FACILITY FROM THE CIVILIAN DABOLIM AIRPORT Post liberation, Goa's lone civilian airport located at Dabolim, has been under the control of the Indian Navy. This in effect, means that commercial flights are only permitted to use the airport during slots allocated to it by the Navy, thus hampering airport operations and seriously limiting the entry of regular civilian flights. With Goa's burgeoning tourism industry resulting in a radical escalation in the number of flights to Goa, it is imperative that the airport facilities be expanded to accommodate this increase. Unfortunately for the people of Goa, with Dabolim airport in the stranglehold of the Indian Navy, this will not be possible until the airport's civilian status is respected and consequently, the Naval facilities shifted to another location. The Goa Congress Government's mode of approaching the problem of Goa's urgent need to expand international airport facilities defies logic. It is incomprehensible to the people of Goa, why the state Government, without even the pretence of an attempt at making a representation to the Defence Ministry rightfully claiming civilian status for Dabolim, is eager to sink huge public funds into starting the construction of an absolutely new airport at Mopa from scratch, besides the crippling costs of developing infrastructure leading to it like roads etc., which will further drain the public exchequer and deal a massive blow to the Goa tourism industry by virtue of its inexplicable location virtually touching the Maharashtra border. The Goa Congress Government should have also understood by now, that the location of the Naval Flight Training facility at Dabolim, breaches a very important aspect of public safety, since it is located in the vicinity of petroleum and ammonia storage tanks and oil and gas pipelines criss crossing the densely populated area of Vasco, Chicalim, Sancoale and Mormugao. Compounding the problem is the setting up of the allegedly illegal Zuari Oil Tanking facility at Sancoale. Over a period of time, we have seen a large number of mishaps emanating from this Naval training base. Surely, safety of civilian population should be of some concern to the Navy in their operations in Goa. The Hon. Member of Parliament for South Goa, Shri Churchill Alemao, has already furnished the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence, of which he is a member, with documentary evidence substantiating Dabolim's civilian status and the urgent compulsion for the Navy to vacate the existing Dabolim airport. These documents, we are sure, he can also equip the state government with should they display the political will and sincerity to make a cogent and vigorous attempt to regain Dabolim airport for exclusive civil aviation purposes and thereby much needed expansion of its facilities. It is amazing that the Goa Congress government displays such insensitivity and lack of concern for the Goan people that it professes to serve. The Goan tourism industry, which is the mainstay of the Goan economy, will be the main victim of this thoughtless and callous policy of creating a new airport at Mopa. Indeed, it is perplexing why the Goa government is displaying such suspicious interest in utilising huge funds from the Goa state exchequer to benefit the tourism industry of our neighbouring state of Maharashtra. We therefore request you, as AICC Secretary, Goa Desk, to call upon the Goa State Congress Government to immediately put in its representation to the Ministry of Defence, demanding that the Navy vacate Dabolim airport, so that its existing infrastructure may be fully utilised and expanded for civil aviation to meet the growing needs of the Goan tourism industry. We earnestly implore you to take up this matter on a priority basis. Thanking you, Yours truly Edwin Pinto copy to Shri Churchill Alemao, Member of Parliament, South Goa As the Parliamentary representative of the people of South Goa, we expect you to look after the interests of your people by continuing a concerted campaign with the Ministry of Defence until Dabolim is vacated by the Navy and reverted back to civilian status. For this purpose, it is necessary that you persuade the Goa State Government as a member of the Congress party, to immediately put in a vigorous representation to the Ministry of Defence in the matter.
