PANJIM: Gearing up to cater to international visitors for the upcoming BRICS summit and the tourist season that begins in October, the State government has called upon the Union Ministry to rectify infrastructural and related problems at the renovated Dabolim airport terminal.
In his communiqué to Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju, State Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar pointed out a number of problems faced by passengers at the new terminal.
“The newly renovated terminal has below par housekeeping services, limited food outlets, lack of bus bays, and poor quality work which resulted in collapse of the false ceiling. The State tourism industry is alarmed and concerned at the lack of world class facilities at the Goa airport which receives thousands of international travellers,” Parulekar said in the communication.
The State has sought his intervention to issue necessary directions to the concerned authorities to tackle the issues on priority before the 2016-17 season.
In a separate letter to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Parulekar drew the former’s attention to shortcomings at the immigration counters. The minister also expressed the need to review the functioning of the immigration office at Dabolim airport which is reeling under pressure following insufficient counters and staff.
“There is inadequate number of counters leading to long queues of tourists causing hardships. The current Immigration Bureau Office is under staffed that further compounds problems,” Parulekar said, insisting on the need to streamline the process.
He also requested Singh to intervene and direct the concerned authorities to ensure that sufficient immigration counters are set up and manned by adequate personnel to cater to the increasing requirements in the coming tourist season and BRICS summit in October.
