TEAM HERALD

teamherald@herald-goa.com

PANJIM:  Congress Member of Parliament Fransisco Sardinha said that while he is in favour of both airports in Goa, he reiterated that Mopa should not come at the expense of Dabolim airport.

“I am happy if Mopa (airport) is coming. With Mopa, North Goa will be developed and Dabolim will remain, so that people from South Goa don’t face problems,” he told a press conference, Saturday.  

Sardinha said that he was opposed to Mopa initially, as the policy was to close down Dabolim airport. “But later technical committee said that Mopa airport would take shape even without closing Dabolim,” he said.

“In the estimates committee meeting of Lok Sabha, I had made it clear that both airports should remain to which the EC agreed after which I asked that this be put down in the minutes,” Sardinha, who chairs the estimates committee of the Parliament said.

He claimed that he had refused to accept Mopa if it comes at the cost of Dabolim airport.

“Our government had sanctioned Rs 500 crores which came down to Rs 300-350 crores…” he said adding that the Greenfield airport will come through PPP mode.

Meanwhile, Congress party has said that the ministry of environment and forest should not take any decision on the Madhav Gadgil report on the Western Ghats without consulting the state government.

“Jairam Ramesh then Minister for Environment and Forest had called me. I had asked him not to take any decision without consulting the state government,” Francisco Sardinha, Working President of Goa Pradesh Congress Committee, told a press conference Saturday.

Sardinha said that Goa has been respecting the environment. “All the rules and regulations are for those who violate the rules. We don’t violate but we conserve,” he claimed.

Stating that conservation should also include human interests, Sardinha said: “We are looking at conservation of humans, animals and trees.” Sardinha said that there are places where animals, trees and human beings live in harmony with each other and they should continue doing so.

The MP said that “he will not oppose Gadgil committee report but tell them to make amendments as required specific to Goa.”

Gadgil committee in its report presented to the MOEF had suggested various exclusive ecological zones in the Western Ghat.