TEAM HERALD
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MARGAO: Expressing surprise at Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Naik’s statement that the Congress party supports two airports in Goa based on expert opinion, Goans for Dabolim Only on Thursday urged the MP and his party to make public the expert report so that the contents can be verified and endorsed by other experts.
GFDO convenor Fr Eremito Rebello has said that the organisation has been saying time and again that a public debate was urgently required to discuss the vexed issue since experts have opined that the existing Dabolim airport was quite sufficient to meet the State’s needs for ever.
He further clarified that the opinion expressed by Naik is quite different from the opinion voiced by other Congress party members and political representatives that the group has met recently. “Naik should not put the onus for the airport on the people of the North, who have never demanded another airport. In fact the people of Mopa themselves have unambiguously given the Mopa airport idea a thumbs down. Their opinion should surely count since it is their land and their lives that are being put on the line for this totally unnecessary project being dumped at the foot of an ecologically fragile Western ghat region,” he added.
The GFDO further said it is ironical indeed that the MP has contributed Rs five lakh from the MPLAD fund for the rehabilitation of those affected by the disaster in Uttarakhand, which it is alleged has been compounded by the cumulative effect of man-made factors like rampant construction and thoughtless development leading to land use change. “It would be wise for us to learn the lessons of the Uttarakhand disaster and respect nature by refraining from inflicting a project of the magnitude of Mopa airport,” he added.
