TEAM HERALD
VASCO: Barely a day after the collapse of a retaining wall, the New International Terminal Building (NITB) at Dabolim Airport was hit by yet another mishap when a generator reportedly caught fire at the NITB on Thursday morning.
While Vasco MLA Carlos Almeida confirmed that the fire mishap had forced airport authorities shift operations to the old Dabolim airport, the Airport Director M Suresh was quick to deny that the generator had caught fire.
Speaking to Herald, Almeida claimed that a generator at the NITB had caught fire, forcing airport operations to be shifted to the old airport terminal.
“The fire to the generator at the NITB only goes to prove that everything is not well at the NITB. This is what happens when one tries to hurriedly commence operations at the NITB without conducting a trial round of all the machinery with the help of experts,” said Almeida.
“On Wednesday, a portion of retaining wall collapsed and today, the generator set caught fire. God only knows what is in store in the days to come at the NITB,” said Almeida.
“The airport authority should immediately stop all operations at the NITB and complete all the ongoing works to avoid any major mishaps,” Almeida added.
When contacted, Airport Director M Suresh denied reports that the generator set had caught fire.
Responding to claims that the fire mishap had forced airport authorities to shift operations from the NITB to the old Dabolim Airport, Suresh said: “We had only shifted a few flight operations to the NITB and most of the operations are still being carried out at the old Dabolim airport terminal.”
