SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 2024
Fear is running the down the spine of the entire people of South Goa, every time an airline company decides to shift its operations from Dabolim International Airport to Manohar International Airport. The entire economy of South Goa will turn into shambles of there is closure of Dabolim International Airport for civilian operations, due to pressures from various fronts.
The economy of South Goa depends almost entirely on tourism industry with all hotels and tourist taxi operations and the lives of many households depending entirely on the survival of Dabolim airport.
“Now that Manohar International Airport is a reality, flights to Dabolim International Airport should not stop. Airlines should stop shifting operations to Manohar International Airport. The Pramod Sawant government should talk to the Union Civil Aviation Minister and stop the airlines from shifting operations to Manohar International Airport,” Luizinho Faleiro, former Rajya Sabha Member, said.
According to Faleiro, both the airports should be made equally viable and given equal importance. Both airports should survive.
“Those airlines which have shifted operations to Mopa, especially Qatar Airways and others should shift back to Dabolim. New airlines can start operations at Mopa,” he said.
Narrating an anecdote when Faleiro was Chief Minister of Goa, he said, “At a meeting with the then P V Jayakrishnan, Secretary of Civil Aviation on August 13, 1999 the following crucial five points were clarified: the Dabolim Airport shall have 24 hours landing and take-off facility for civilian aircrafts, within the next two months. The runway at Goa would be upgraded so that bigger aircrafts of the Indian Airlines will be able to land, thereby easing the traffic and making the journey more comfortable.”
The Secretary (Civil Aviation) informed that more Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) would be put at Dabolim and have instrument landing system for the airport. The Secretary (Civil Aviation) also suggested that a study of the pattern on which Cochin Airport has been upgraded could be made at Goa and the same could be followed with suitable modifications for upgrading the Airport at Goa.
The Secretary (Civil Aviation) informed that Goa was on the list of 11 places where an airport of international level would be started soon (and which was done, as Goa became the 11th International Airport in India.)
“Jayakrishnan agreed that the air traffic would not be enough for two airports. Subsequently, I met George Fernandes, who was the Defence Minister in the NDA government. Although my flight was delayed by three hours and I reached New Delhi at 9.30 pm. George Fernandes waited for me in his Defence Ministry office, New Delhi,” Faleiro said.
“He agreed to all the five points listed earlier. He agreed to give additional land from the Navy for expansion of Dabolim airport. He also agreed to provide funds for widening of the airstrip,” Faleiro added.
“It was through the strong support of George Fernandes, UPA Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Civil Aviation Secretary Jayakrishnan and my initiative over a period of time that Dabolim became an international airport,” he informed.
Thereafter, it was the Francisco Sardinha government, supported by the BJP and thereafter the Manohar Parrikar government which pushed for the establishment of Mopa International airport, based on the approval of the Union Cabinet to set up a new airport of international standard at Mopa.
“The Parrikar Cabinet at its meeting on July 20, 2000 approved the proposal for setting up of the proposed International Airport at Mopa, as per the institutional framework approved by the Union Cabinet, where the airport would be built on Build Own Operate and Transfer basis. It was also decided that the existing civilian operations from the Dabolim Airport shall be closed upon commissioning of the International Airport at Mopa.”
Then after the Congress government came to power in 2005, under Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane, as Minister of Industries and Education Luizinho Faleiro, on April 4, 2006, wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram and AICC President Sonia Gandhi, that the decision of the BJP government to close down the Dabolim airport and developing of
Mopa airport was unwarranted and would create a hornet’s nest and lead to a North Goa-South Goa divide.
“A joint delegation of ministers also met the then Union Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee who assured not only to retain Dabolim airport as an international airport. But in a letter dated June 21, 2006, to me, Mukherjee agreed to release additional 8.77 acres of land of naval land to AAI for expansion and creation of infrastructure at the civil enclave, upgradation and modernisation of the airport,” the former MP said.
“Mukherjee also said that the navy would make the airfield available for 24 hour day night operations, except when needed for military flying operations. And that the Dabolim airport would not be closed,” Faleiro pointed out.
In his letter, Faleiro had underlined that the feasibility study confirmed that upon commissioning of the Mopa airport, the one at Dabolim would be closed for commercial flights.
Faleiro relentlessly pursued the issue of safeguarding the operations at Dabolim Airport. Then again in 2013, when Luizinho Faleiro was AICC General Secretary, on September 23, 2013, he wrote to the UPA Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Minister for Civil Aviation Ajit Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, pointing to the strong opposition and resentment brewing among the people to the proposed setting up of the Mopa Airport (Manohar International Airport) in extreme part of North Goa.
“I pointed out that Dabolim airport which is centrally located, could handle 9.5 million passengers in a year and experts had projected traffic of just 7.3 million (ADPI) and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) had projected traffic of 9.27 million, by 2035,” he said.
The dual airport study conducted by ICAO, prescribes a minimum annual traffic of 24 million passengers to facilitate viability of two airport. Upon the commissioning of the airport at Mopa, there will be no alternative but to close down the profitable Dabolim airport for commercial operation,” Faleiro pointed out in his letter.
Faleiro says that at a recent awards function, he appealed to Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant that closing down Dabolim airport would be disastrous for South Goa. He also raised a red flag regarding the shifting of operations of Qatar Airways from Dabolim to Mopa.
He said he would be happy if Chief Minister Sawant would take up the issue seriously and intervene in the matter at the earliest.
Faleiro demanded that due to the fear in the minds of the people of South Goa, there needs to be a categorical assurance from the BJP government that Dabolim Airport, being the lifeline of the tourism industry, will continue as a civilian airport, to benefit the Goan economy and protect the livelihoods of the people.
