Team Herald
MARGAO: The BJP voters in Mopa Plateau have brought to the attention of the Prime Minister the serious concerns on the second airport being constructed at Mopa.
Appreciating PM Narendra Modi’s talks at international forums on the looming problem of climatic changes, the BJP voters in Mopa, have appealed Modi to have a close loop at the airport proposed at Mopa.
Modi is scheduled to come to Goa to lay the foundation stone for the Mopa airport next month.
In a letter to the Prime Minister they stated that the Mopa Airport was a brainchild of the erstwhile Congress State government, which was perceived as an alleged scam by the then BJP Opposition Party in Goa and also by Goans. It was believed that the second airport was sought to be set up in tiny Goa by the Congress regime just to increase real estate value of huge parcels of land bought by various VIPs in that area.
The BJP voters have said that they are at a loss to understand why the BJP government is showing such iron determination to plough ahead with the erstwhile Congress government’s destructive policy.
They have brought to the attention of the PM that the Mopa Plateau upon which this airport is sought to be constructed abuts the ecologically fragile Western Ghats region, which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
They have said that the fall out of the Airport will be “irreversible in human terms, leading to traumatic disruption of our lives and livelihood as farmers and people engaged in animal husbandry, besides those of us who are residents of the area”.
They have stated that 46 perennial fresh water springs, and a vibrant and plentiful water reservoirs are being destroyed in the process of setting up this airport, even as ironically, the Goa Government is engaged in battling Karnataka over water from the Mhadei River. The wealth of flora, fauna and irreplaceable bio diversity that will be lost has been documented by environmentalists, even as the Goa State Government and its bio diversity Board has failed to conduct any scientific studies as to the eco-sensitivity and fragility of the region.
They have stated that there are two cases pending against this Airport project with the NGT, regarding the EIA, and one case in the Supreme Court relating to the land acquisition.
According to information provided by Civil Aviation Minister A Gajapathi Raju in the Lok Sabha in April this year, India spent a total of Rs 600 crore on 25 airports across the country in just two years when these airports were technically operational but in reality did not handle a single scheduled flight. In other words, the unviability of these airports has turned them into ghost airports.
The most perplexing question regarding the proposed Mopa Airport is why Goa (just 80 kms) needs a second airport at all.
The centrally located Goa International Airport at Dabolim has the capacity to handle 9.5 million passengers for 2035 or the next 22 years according to the expert ICAO report. In fact, Rs.500 crores has been invested for upgradation of infrastructure at Dabolim Airport, which is the third highest in the country after Kolkata and Chennai. The proposed Greenfield airport at Mopa will also fall within 150 kms of Chipi Airport located in the neighbouring state of Maharashtra.
Expert reports of ICAO and ADPi have clearly stated that one airport is the best solution for Goa, the letter stated.
“As farmers, labourers, mothers, sisters and youth of Goa, we come to your feet in confidence knowing that with such a humane mindset, you will definitely come to our assistance and save our way of living, our livelihood and most of all the environment that feeds and sustains all of us and our children and will do so for generations to come,” the letter stated.
