Mr Parrikar continues to make tall claims in the Assembly about the skill development programmes in Goa. I say “tall claims” because once again the issue of MOPA airport came up and to justify this white elephant of an infrastructure, he claimed that it will be an opportunity to skill the youth of Goa and jobs will be created.
As usual, Mr. Parrikar is trying to divert people’s attention from the fact that the airport at Mopa is not necessary and we have enough room at Dabolim to accommodate current and future traffic to Goa. By insisting that both Mopa and Dabolim will continue to function and cater to the tourist traffic, one wonders if this is actually a feasible operational option. A small state like Goa does not have traffic for 2 airports as previously argued by me in several articles.
Nevertheless, if we are to believe Mr. Parrikar, Mopa is supposed to generate employment for about 2000 people. Will these jobs go to Goans? He has claimed that first preference will be given to Goans but safety will not be compromised. So with a sleight of words, it seems as though there is no guarantee that Goans will get the jobs. Even though we are 3 years away from Mopa being operational, he does not seem confident that people can be trained and become compliant with safety standards well in time to be qualified for the job.
So it leads me to the next question. How many jobs at the current Dabolim airport actually have gone to Goans? There is a variety of skills required at any airport. From concessionaires, travel agents, taxi drivers, airline checking and ticketing staff as well as ramp staff, airport staff to manage and monitor the activities at the airport, cleaners, loaders, drivers and air traffic personnel. How many of these roles are safety related? A majority of it is not and if it does, it is usually done through an in-house training with the airline or airport. So we need to take stock of how many jobs at Dabolim actually are with Goans and that would give us a fair estimate of what we can expect at Mopa.
Next is if we have skilled all these people, are we setting up training institutes and academies? I know, as an aviation specialist, I have put in repeated requests to open up an Aviation academy on 5000 sq.mts of land and the same has never been approved. Leads me to wonder why Goans are not given preference? But should someone from outside of the State want to come in and set it up, we roll out the red carpet treatment for them.
The latest report by the National Skill Development Agency – Goa states that though our population is small, it is highly literate and urbanised. Our major industries and sectors are Tourism, Ship Building, Steel, Pharmaceuticals, Food Processing, Agriculture, and Mining. Yet it confirms that over the last 5 years, agricultural growth has been almost negligible and over 100,000 people lost their jobs due to the mining crisis. As a result, the government has now shifted its focus back to agriculture.
If that were true, then how come the agricultural growth is negligible? What are they doing to correct it and improve the skills of farmers or potential farmers? Are they given training on latest farming techniques so that they can get the most out of their soil and limited land? Will their yield be sufficient to allow them to prosper? Are they really incentivizing people to take to farming? Because once again in other articles I have pointed out that the Government continues to land grab and the once green spaces of Goa are being abandoned for other lucrative careers.
The report also confirms that the biggest sector in Goa is Hospitality and that’s where there is the largest requirement of human resources. Yet, have we invested in bringing in world class hospitality training to Goa? It seems as though the Government keeps shifting its focus and does not have a priority plan on how to skill Goa. The report also says there is a need to shift focus to IT and the ITES sector.
Environmental concerns too are one of the most important factors when it comes to thinking of a mega project such as this. The noise and environment pollution due to aircrafts will destroy the village. Mopa will be stripped off all its greenery and sleepy by lanes dues to this. Is it not enough that half of Goa is already destroyed due to mines? Late Tourism Minister Matanhy Saldanha had gone on record to say that “Goa is too small for another airport” and rightly said. Firstly it is a small State, next do we even realize the consequences of another airport in a sleepy village? The pollution, noise, harm to vegetation that all this will cause? These issues are being raised, nearly every day but then again who will listen?
Kenneth Bo Nielsen, a postdoctoral research fellow from the University of Bergen, Norway spoke about how earlier campaigns highlighted popular concerns over environmental destruction, water depletion, land scams and pollution and raised it to the top of the political agenda, forcing the incumbent government to scrap the SEZ policy, withdraw the regional plan, and put Mopa on the backburner.
What is required is a holistic plan that identifies 2-3 sectors which would benefit Goa in terms of revenue and provide jobs for Goans. The next step would be to identify partners to establish world class training facilities in each of these sectors. Provide subsidies for the education and advancement of Goans and insist on jobs for Goans first.
(The author is Managing Director of Aviation Travel & Tourism Services – ATTS)
