Goanet next meets in Goa: January 7, 4 pm (meeting point: Kala Academy canteen). Goanet founder Herman Carneiro will be there. See you there! ------------------------------
Delegates seek shifting of naval base to Karwar http://www.oherald.com BY HERALD REPORTER PANJIM, JAN 3 -- Whether Goa needs an international airport in addition to the existing one at Dabolim, whether tourist guides are trained at all and whether the government has organised the three-day event to get political mileage were the main issues which dominated the Question and Answer session on Tourism. A question which put the organisers on the defensive was why the government cannot seek the relocation of the naval base from Dabolim to Karwar so that the Dabolim airport could be developed further instead of the proposed Mopa airport. Tourism Secretary, R Raghuraman said the Mopa airport issue was policy decision. On Dabolim, he went on to say that expansion plans are on the anvil. Not satisfied with the reply, former MLA, Herculano Dourado asked a supplementary which was received with applause from the audience. It was pointed out that Dabolim is centrally located and for south Goa, Mopa would be too far. However, as no minister was present to give a specific answer, Mr Dourado requested that the sentiments expressed at the sammelan be conveyed to the authorities concerned. Tourism Director N Suryanarayana said the four-lane highway which has been taken up by the government, the traveller would reach the airport in 40 minutes. The tourism department came in for criticism for not conducting training to tourist guides. To a question asked by Suhas Sardesai, officials said that there are 60 guides and that for the last 3-4 years, no training had been conducted. Delegates also brought to the notice of the government that the information provided by some is factually wrong. Mr Suryanarayana said that the there are no government guides. Those who received training earlier were given ID-cards. ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################