Govt sleeps on Navy letter asking it to stop work on de-notified land
TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: Even as the supposed alternative government land for parking at Dabolim Airport is “lost” for all practical purposes ~ it is stuck in the administrative tribunal with the Indian Navy saying that the land is theirs ~ the naval authorities direction to the State to immediately stop work on the de-notified 36,800 sqm due to urgent security concerns has been ignored for close to 16 months now.
In a letter dated March 30, 2012 to the Chief Secretary, South Goa Collector, MPDA and even the local elected representatives, the Navy has asked the government to “immediately stop work as development there was not in the interest of safety and security of naval and civil aviation”. The Navy had also written: “…Whatever the outcome of the PIL against the de-notification, the developer be asked to seek a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Union Ministry of Defence before proceeding with construction.”
However, the construction is still on and advertised and is advertised as such by the developer, also named in the letter. According to the company website, “the project ~ Umiya Quatro ~ is located at a prime location in Dabolim, opposite the Goa International Airport and offers 1 & 2 BHK apartments… It is in close proximity to the airport, railway station, schools, colleges and hospitals with Bogmalo Beach within a radius of 3 to 4 kms, making it one of the most central addresses in Goa.”
The Navy’s reservations were reported by the Herald in its edition dated April 4, 2012 but the government has till date seemingly chosen to ignore the defence force’s concerns. “It is assessed that existence of unrestricted civilian residential complexes in the areas can be a potentially serious threat to military, VVIP and civil aviation security. If the area in survey no 8/1 (of Dabolim village) remains under the control of AAI as originally intended (before de-notification), the degree of threat would be significantly contained,” the Navy’s letter points out, adding that the area can be used “as a safe haven for disruptive elements and to gather intelligence as a full view of and access to the runway will be easily available to the civil population.”
What is more damming is the Navy has clearly pointed out in its letter that if the area remained under the AAI as “originally intended”, the degree of the threat would be considerably lessened. The site is about 200 meters from the main gate of the Naval airbase and also close to the AAI cargo complex.
Survey No 8/1, which was meant for
airport parking, was de-notified by the Digambar Kamat-led government, with the BJP ~ then in the Opposition crying itself hoarse over the Congress government’s alleged corruption and kickbacks in the deal. This parcel of land was de-notified by the government and given back to one Bernard Costa for his “family use.” It was subsequently parceled off into four portions with two being kept by a prominent builder who is the co-owner on the land along with the original owners while two portions have been given out ~ one to another local builder for developing plots and the other to the Bangalore-based company that is developing the Umiya Quatro project that the Navy is so worried about.
The letter from the Chief Staff Officer, Cmdr LK Agarwalla, has attached a copy of the policy directive from the Defence Ministry and informed the State Government that: “The recent events in the present geo-political scenario have indicated that no defence establishment is safe from a determined disruptive attack by instruments of international terror. It becomes incumbent upon all of us to take preemptive measures to deter such elements in targeting prime targets like airports and naval air stations.”
Will the government act, better late than never?
