AAI yet to receive land for parking: Airport director

VASCO: Goa Airport Director Gagan Malik on Friday said that Airport Authority of India, is yet to receive the promised alternative land from the State government for parking.
He was replying to a question in regard to a letter by Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia to Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant asking the latter to look into the matter wherein the State had promised land for the airport parking and other purposes a decade ago.
Malik said they are yet to receive the promised land from the Goa government for parking and other activities. He, however, said he has not received any official letter about this matter.
On Thursday, a statement by PIB Delhi had said that Scindia had sought Sawant’s intervention in expediting the matters regarding the land for parking at the airport.
Scindia mentioned that AAI had requested for 20.48 acres of land for construction of city side car parking and other infrastructural work at Goa Airport, that the cost of acquisition was also paid by AAI to Goa, but notification for acquisition was issued by the State government in respect of 15.50 acres, out of which 9.23 acres is yet to be handed over to AAI.
Vasco activist Savio Correia said that the letter contradicts the Airport Director’s written explanation to MoEF&CC on the issue raised by him at the environmental public hearing in December last. The Airport Director Goa had stated that the 7.4-acre plot on the northern side requested from State government for city-side parking was “sufficient to meet the additional requirement of parking in addition to existing/proposed”. The land title issue between the Navy and Comunidade pending before the Collector was being expedited. Based on this submission, MoEF&CC had granted EC to the integrated terminal and apron expansion proposal.
“Scindia’s letter vindicates my claim at the public hearing that there was misrepresentation by AAI in TOR compliance regarding estimation of vehicular parking area and that there was lack of clarity with respect to parking facilities within the airport project area. While I am not against expansion of Dabolim airport, I feel that adequate parking facility at Dabolim airport is a necessity particularly for taxis and public service vehicles,” Correia said.
In 2011, land of around 36,000 sq mtr from Dabolim area in survey 8/1, which was supposed to be acquired by the Goa government and handed over for the airport parking to AAI was de-notified following a cabinet decision impressing upon that around 70,000 sq mtr of alternative land opposite Dabolim airport was available for parking. However, a decade later the de-notified land has tall commercial and residential infrastructure whereas the 70,000 sq mtr of promised land is nowhere to be found which the AAI has been asking from the state government.