TEAM HERALD
PERNEM: North Goa BJP MLAs, Speaker Rajendra Arlekar and Health Minister Laxmikant Parsekar took on the anti-Mopa voices alleging that there were certain sections of the polity including MLAs that were intent on dividing the State on the Mopa issue.
The media interaction held at Pernem included the People for Mopa Airport convenor Devendra Prabhudessai who stressed that efforts were being made by certain sections of the anti-Mopa movement to communalise the issue in a bid to divide the State.
“BJP did not make this an election issue. Congress did,” Parsekar told the media saying there were certain sections that made all out efforts to stop the Mopa airport. However, the MLAs refused to commit on jobs for those whose land was acquired.
When Arlekar was asked whether there would be jobs reserved for those who had lost their land, he said that the compensation given was good. He did not promise to reserve jobs, instead, promised to consider the applications sympathetically.
Speakers said people from North and South wanted Mopa, but certain vested interests wanted to vitiate the atmosphere by giving the issue a twist. The MLAs said that the RFQ was out and in the global tender only those who had built two to three airports would be allowed to take part.
According to Parsekar, the cost of the airport that was pegged at Rs 3000 crore had gone up by Rs 1000 crore due to the delay of seven to eight years, arguing that an international airport was the need of the hour.
