MARGAO: Saying that Mopa is a scam and no longer a North v/s South issue, Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai on Tuesday accused the government of inviting the Request for Qualification (RFQ) without even acquiring land for the access road from the highway to the airport — a distance of six kilometres.
Asserting that Mopa airport has been conceptualized without an access, Sardesai said the government either for political reasons or to save certain highly placed land owners allowed the land acquisition proceedings of a realigned access to lapse.
Addressing the media, he said with the new Land Acquisition Act in force, it could cost the government nothing less than Rs 960 crore to acquire the land admeasuring six lakh sq mts for the 6 km access to Mopa from the National Highway.
“When the mistake got revealed, I understand the brains of this government tried to conceptualize a new idea that of taking NOC from land owners for installing pillars for a flyover of 6 km from National Highway to proposed Mopa airport. Such unprecedented size of a flyover would further increase the cost by another Rs 300 to 400 crore, whilst also not making it foolproof and exempt from further litigation. Another question is whether this proposed flyover will be part of the EIA as this huge construction will also have a huge impact on the environment,” he said.
He said that enquiries by bidders like GVK, of water availability for proposed airport at the pre application conference evoked answers of untreated Tillari water to be used which he said is also shocking. “This is another example of water being diverted from the needs of farmers to corporate interests. All this suggests that Mopa continues and has grown as a scam. It is no longer a North vs South Goa issue.”
but an issue where haphazard and thoughtless approach of the government to prove a point is going to lead to a massive waste of funds of the public exchequer and/or collusion with private developer leading to a fraud on the public exchequer, a fraud on the people of all of Goa, including those from the areas adjoining the proposed site, who have been all this time fooled into believing that the airport will benefit them,” Sardesai said.
He said that although the RFQ is only a document mandating minimum qualifications for the bidders, it remains an incomplete document not specifying facts but providing incentives that an additional 381acre land with 4 times FAR will be allowed for commercial development around the proposed Mopa site.. Now the bidders are questioning the government’s qualification for conceptualizing such a wild project.
“The EIA for which Engineers India Ltd has been contracted is also infructuous as there seems to be no access to the project. How can a project without access be assessed for EIA when even small houses here need mandatory access? All this means that the RFQ is incomplete and is misleading even the investors and bidders. The project should go as per set procedures. No shortcuts that will cause thousands of crores of losses should be allowed. The procedures as set out in a legal manner should be followed,” he said.
The Fatorda MLA hoped the government will not say that he an anti-National for pointing out this major discrepancy and for demanding that procedures be followed. “I hope the government replies to this shocking revelation. Those who defended Mopa on Diwali eve and made charges against a certain community should reply to this and not wait for the Bhai to reply, whom they have already started missing”, he said.
Evidence of scam abound
u Under new Land Acquisition Act, acquiring six lakh sq mts of land for the 6 km access to Mopa from the National Highway could cost the government nothing less than Rs 960 crore
u Building a flyover in place of an access road would increase the cost of Mopa project by Rs 300 to 400 crore
u Enquiries have revealed that untreated Tillari water will be supplied to the proposed airport at the cost of farmers and this suggests that Mopa is scam
