TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
MARGAO: Goans For Dabolim Only on Sunday appealed to the Parrikar-led government to at least now change its direction from turning Goa into a hub of decadence and exploitation masquerading as “development”.
Goans For Dabolim Only Convenor Fr Eremito Rebello said it is a sad commentary on the mindset and outlook of the incumbent government when the State’s Art & Culture Minister uses his position to promote a beachside rave party culture, berating and humiliating an upright and dutiful senior police officer by dubbing him a “goonda” for raiding beachside rave parties, which over the years, have been alleged to be hubs of the drug trade.
“But this is hardly surprising in a government where the Health Minister, who is also the Mandrem MLA has publicly justified the drug trade allegedly flourishing in his constituency on the grounds of improving the economic “health” of his constituency of Mandrem”, he said.
Fr Rebello said this alarming trend of permitting Goa to be used and abused as the playground and party zone of tourists at the cost of Goans, or as a golden goose to be sacrificed for the profits of vested interests is also apparent in the actions of this government to displace local Goans and tear them apart from their prime agricultural land in the interests of building an unnecessary Public Private Partnership airport at Mopa.
He said the project is being pushed through even before conducting the mandatory EIA, despite the feasibility study clearly proclaiming that “the Mopa airport would not be able to generate cash flow to sustain the projected capital investment”.
“Going by the track record of this government, the people of Goa can safely assume that in addition to the heavy human costs inflicted by this project, the inevitable problems that will arise in the operation of the proposed Mopa airport that the government seeks to build by flying in the face of rationality and sound economic considerations, will result in pumping of funds from the public exchequer, or perhaps pulling out of the private partner as has happened in the case of India’s first PPP project of the Airport Express Line of Delhi Metro with Reliance Infrastructure”, he added.
While appealing to the State government to formulate actions and policies that put the interests and wellbeing of Goa and Goans first, Fr Rebello said Goans For Dabolim Only will continue to push ahead with its campaign demanding just, viable and sustainable development for the State, by retaining Goa’s existing airport of Dabolim as its sole airport.
