The Chief Minister finally buckled under pressure and decided to drop commercial operations of helicopter joyrides at Aguada asking Pawan Hans Limited – operating the service in the State – to look for an alternate site.
Parsekar announced the development to media persons emerging from a closed-door meeting with Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar, Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) Chairman Nilesh Cabral, Calangute MLA Michael Lobo, Pawan Hans officials and others at his official bungalow at Altinho on Wednesday.
Sources said there was a big showdown between Michale Lobo, Nilesh and Parulekar on the issue.
While Dilip and Nilesh were in favour of the joy-rides, Michael put his foot-down and even threatened to take a drastic step if it was not stopped.
“Pawan Hans has been asked to put on hold the helicopter service at Aguada helipad. Aguada plateau is a heritage site surrounded by protected monument like Aguada Fort. We will look for an alternate site to run the operations, and preferably develop three new helipads in the north district,” the CM said.
While Parsekar did not identify the new spots, sources confirm that his constituency Pernem and Bicholim could be developed for the helicopter service.
The BJP government came under severe criticism from Calangute locals, panchayat, its own MLA Michael Lobo and Congress leader Agnelo Fernandes for the helicopter operations at Aguada arguing it would create noise pollution and damage the eco- sensitive areas of Candolim and Sinquerim.
On Wednesday, the Calangute police detained Fernandes and nearly a dozen panchayat members for opposing the landing of helicopter. They were released thereafter.
Parulekar, also present at the media briefing stated that they apprehended the locals would damage the helicopter risking lives of tourist passengers and the pilot. “People are protesting against the tourism project,” he said citing reason for suspending the service adding, “There was a fear that helicopter could be stoned by the angry mob.”
Contented with the decision, Lobo said the government should not take forward any projects without taking into confidence the Goans, who are major stakeholders in tourism. “The previous government had approved file for new tourism activities like ropeway, amphibious vehicles, seaplanes, marinas and helicopter rides. The bringing of the erstwhile government should not be taken forward without the wishes of Goans. The Congress was voted out because it tried to impose their decisions on the people,” he commented.
The local MLA is of the opinion that tourism industry should not be given out to ‘anybody else’ and remain with local stakeholders.
“Tourism should be for Goans. Let Goans decide what kind of tourism they want,” he said.
