TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Goans for Dabolim Only (GFDO) on Wednesday said that Dabolim legislator Mauvin Godinho should first identify the 70,000 square metres of land on the basis of which he and Jose Philip D’Souza had advised de-notification of the acquired land if he is sincere about ensuring that Dabolim airport is of international quality with world-class facilities.
“Identification of the land will enable authorities to commence acquisition proceedings forthwith and the much delayed expansion of facilities at Dabolim Airport can get underway. This, especially in the light of the fact that the advice of Godinho and D’Souza constitutes the very genesis of the present problem. Or else, he should explain to the people of Goa and the people of his constituency, his role in this alleged fraud in the case of the missing 70,000 square metres of land”, asserted GFDO convenor Fr Eremito Rebello.
While expressing happiness that Godinho has at last seen sense and changed his earlier stand by urging the government to “Think about the proposed Mopa airport only when the need arises, GFDO said “ironically, it is Mauvin Godinho himself who is allegedly responsible for the strangulation of Dabolim airport. According to the minutes of the meeting held on February 14, 2011, Godinho and D’Souza of the Nationalist Congress Party, were together the main architects and facilitators of the contentious denotification of survey number 8/1 Dabolim.
The recorded minutes of the meeting clearly prove that both of them were the ones who pointed out the existence of a vacant space of land around 70,000 square metres area available opposite the airport meant for parking. It was on the basis of this quid pro quo that notification of survey number 8/1 Dabolim which had already reached the section 7 stage of the Land Acquisition Act was withdrawn.
Godinho will recall that 70,000 square metres of land claim was totally contrary to the findings of an exercise jointly carried out by the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Public Works Department (PWD), Land Survey Department in and around the airport. The exercise had ascertained that the land in surveys 8/1 and 9/1 were the only contiguously available areas for expansion of airport facilities. All other vacant areas they found, were either affected by right of way of national highway/railways or was the property of the Ministry of Defence. All this has been clearly recorded in the minutes. Now, even after two years, Godinho and D’Souza have failed to identify the elusive land for the authorities.
In the meantime, commercial construction activity by a builder is on at breakneck speed on the 36,800 square metres of denotified survey 8/1, Fr Rebello said.
