TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar on Monday said the government would insert a condition while tendering Mopa airport that Dabolim will not be closed down, even as he maintained that the government is yet to receive a comprehensive report from the Airport Authority of India (AAI) on their parking and other requirements for the Dabolim airport.
Parrikar has also demanded to know from Independent MLA Vijai Sardessai why he did not quit the Congress when the Kamat government de-notified the Dabolim airport parking land. “While tendering Mopa, the bidder will be made quite clear via a clause that Dabolim will not be closed down. It is for the bidder to take a call on the government’s proposal”, he said when asked to react to Goemkar’s decision to hold a public meeting at the Lohia Maidan in support of the Dabolim airport and its parking requirements.
“After my meeting with AAI, I had asked them to submit a report, listing their detailed requirements for parking and the utilization of the land handed over to them. They have to indicate how much space is required for car park, how space has already been given to them for parking and the fate of the land et al”, he said, adding “this shows they don’t have a clear plan. I will not go by hearsay and the media. I will analyse their report through experts as and when it comes and if required anything will be done’.
When quizzed whether any land is available close to the airport following the de-notification of the acquired area, Parrikar shot back “parking means, not actual parking on land. You can go vertical too. There’s already a multi-car parking facility coming up next to the airport to cater to 560-600 vehicles. The existing terminal will also be vacated. There cannot be car park very far also. If the AAI want extra car park, they should insist whatever we have asked from the Navy”.
Replying to another question, he said there’s a need for another airport, which will actually function only on the landings of Dabolim, but on the international income. “If someone feels that the new airport will function on the number of aircrafts coming to Dabolim, it is wrong”, he said, adding that an airport has been sanctioned in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra, just 25 kms from the proposed airport at Mopa.
