MARGAO: Goans for Dabolim Only (GFDO) has congratulated Airport Authority of India on fulfilling its commitment to expand the Dabolim Airport to singlehandedly meet the demands of the State, even as it keeps the user charges low for the benefit of passengers.
In a press statement, GFDO said that the imminent expansion of the airport terminal is all set to comfortably increase its passenger handling capacity to 130 lakh from the existing 90 lakh passengers presently being accommodated.
Fr Eremitho Rebello of GFDO said, “In a State with a resident population of 25 lakh and a floating tourist population of 60 lakh, it is impossible to understand the reasoning based upon which the State government has handed over vast parcels of precious Goan land and sacrificed 53,000 trees to GMR for a second airport at Mopa with an expected capacity of 130 lakh passengers.”
“On what basis has the Government calculated that the number of travelers to Goa will surge from 60 lakh a year to 260 lakh a year within the span of 10 years? What is the government’s plan for provision of adequate water, roads, sewerage and garbage plants to handle its projected 260 lakh travelers?” he questioned.
GFDO said that the government’s concept of development appears to be single minded privatisation of community and State resources for the benefit of favoured corporate entities, even going against existing facts, trends and common sense. “This can be seen from the government’s inexplicable payout of Rs 125 crore from the public exchequer to SEZ promoters, despite there being no provision to do so. The payment to Reliance and the diversion of Goa’s precious Mhadei water to Karnataka are just a few of the many other manifestations of the government’s callous profligacy and total inefficiency,” GFDO said.
“The Rs 400 crore recently spent on building the new terminal at Dabolim Airport and the Rs 145 crore that is slated to be spent on the expansion of its terminal building are all funded from the Central public exchequer maintained from the taxpayers’ hard earned money. With the sharp increase in the capacity of Dabolim Airport and with its much lower user development fee, how does the Goa government expect to make Mopa Airport economically viable?” Fr Rebello asked.
“Or will this be accomplished by a further sell out of the State’s interests and resources? Has this development been planned in the genuine interests of the State or for the benefit of vested interests and land speculators who have set up in the vicinity of the Mopa area?” he asked further.
