TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Claiming that the weakest link at Dabolim airport is non-availability of parking space for aeroplanes, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday said he would petition the Union Government for additional space from the Navy operated facility to park more aircrafts thereby and upgrading the International Airport.
Parrikar will be on a four-day visit to the national capital, from October 29, wherein he would be meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Defence Minister Arun Jaitley, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Forest and Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar to discuss a host of issues concerning the State.
Chief Minister, spelling out his agenda for Delhi visit, told media persons that he would meet Minister for Civil Aviation and Defence demanding that more space should be made available at the existing Dabolim airport to park the aircrafts.
“We need more parking space as airlines like Air Asia want to convert Goa into their hub. They are ready to start two flights from Goa in the morning,” Parrikar said, adding that their plans are grounded due to inadequate parking space for aircrafts. He also said that non-availability of space has also reduced the capacity of the airport thus affecting its functioning.
“Air Asia needs space for their aircrafts for the overnight halt. Right now we have a problem to allocate the space for them,” he added.
Parrikar said that the State government has already drafted a policy to make Goa as airlines hub by providing various incentives like low taxation on aviation turbine fuel (ATF). He said that once the hub is created, the State government will reduce value added tax on ATF from existing 12 per cent to mere five per cent.
“The weakest link in Dabolim is parking of planes. Once more airplanes can be parked obviously we can increase the air traffic,” he said.
At the same time, a crucial meeting with the Union Home Minister and External Affairs Minister is scheduled on October 29 for a concrete solution to the long pending dual citizenship issue.
Chief Minister said that Union Ministry should give freedom to Indian citizens, who are currently caught in the dual citizenship tangle. “Government is of the opinion that a person is deemed to be Indian citizen provided he does not renounce his/her citizenship and obtain citizenship of some other nation,” he said. The meeting would be also attended by NRI commissioner Wilfred Mesquita, acting Chief Secretary and NRI commission director U D Kamat.
There are cases wherein births (of Goans born before 1961) have been registered in Portugal by third person or some agent, without their knowledge.
CM asks non-cooperating mining firms to fall in line
PANJIM: State government on Tuesday threatened to go for criminal investigation against those mining firms failing to cooperate with its chartered accountants’ panel probing financial transactions to ascertain the actual loss caused to State exchequer due to illegal mining. The report of the CAs would help government to ascertain the exact quantum of loss from the respective mining companies. Pg3
