<Mr Naik has called upon his partymen, supporting either of the issues, not to make statements in public, which he said were neither in the interest of the common man or the party. He urged them and other political parties not to politicise the issues and wait for the findings of the experts' committee and the decision of the central government on them. He further said that since the Prime Minister has promised to continue with the Dabolim airport as also to decide on the future of Mopa airport project only after receiving the feasibility report from the experts' committee, there was no issue left for debate and that state leaders should wait till the Centre makes its stand clear on them. The GPCC president further said that attempts were being made to involve common man from the state on the issues and that such attempts were not in the interest of general public and that party leaders should refrain from making such attempts, and instead work for building the party. Mr Naik also said that conflicting statements by party leaders presented party in poor light and were sending wrong signals among the partymen and were confusing the party cadres, as such leaders should refrain from making such statements, which lowered the esteem of the party and its leaders before the public.> ------------------ This kind of political "gag" order seems highly dubious. It is anti-transparency and hence most retrograde. The need of the hour is for greater information sharing about Mopa AND Dabolim in a level headed rather than polemical way. Both are already shrouded in secrecy of varying kinds.
The Goa government has not placed the facts of Mopa before the public to date. We have had to be content with bits and pieces appearing in the media from time to time since May 2005. From the looks of this it is clearly planned as a replacement for Dabolim (A380s, two runways, international etc) a position from which the government is now trying to back track without letting the public wisen up to this gross error. As for Dabolim, the Goa government is perfectly happy to maintain the status quo claiming it has no say in military matters! There is no meaning in saying that the PM has promised to let Dabolim civil enclave continue. That is the state of affairs anyway. Its only the completion of Mopa that will lead to a shut down of Dabolim. And that is as per a Union Cabinet resolution of 2000 which hopefully the PM has the power to rescind. Why is nobody asking for this? Besides Mopa as planned at present will inevitably lead to a long term decline of Dabolim too, as many have argued. It is clear that the pro-Mopa committee is bent on pushing the present design through, unchanged with the help of a pliable experts' committee. That would be a huge mistake. That is what the anti-Mopa group should be arguing about, not "Mopa Never". Btw, is Ravi Naik the ex-CM under whose watch Anjediva was handed over to the Navy without a whimper? Hmmm!
