News from Rubiya Shaikh
Daijiworld Media Network - Panaji (SP)

Panaji, Sep 20: Shantaram Naik, Rajya Sabha member from Goa, recently met the union minister for civil aviation  Prafful Patel and requested him not to cut short the size of the proposed expansion plan of the Dabolim passenger terminus and not to deviate from the original plan plan of expansion.

Apprehending pruning down of the original plan of the expansion of passenger terminus building, which was finalised by the Airports Authority of India(AAI) before Mopa was given green signal by the Mopa Committee headed by Goa chief minister, Naik met Patel and gave him a memorandum, urging him not to cut short the size of the original plan at any cost. Patel is understood to have assured Naik to resolve all issues pertaining to Dabolim airport, within a month.

In his Memorandum,  Naik has explained, that the AAI had envisaged a plan for the construction of a new integrated terminal building for catering to the domestic and international passenger capacity of 3400 passengers (2400 passengers domestic arrival and departure and 1000 passengers international arrival and departure), at an estimated cost of Rs 500 crore. This would cater to 12 aircraft parkings connected to the terminal building through aerobridges on the airside and a few more remote parking bays.

Naik further says, that the  plan required the demolition of the existing terminal building in totality, to accommodate 12 aircraft parking stands with aerobridges. The plan also envisages, and rightly so, the dismantling of  the AAI Colony for accommodating operational utility units like power house, airline workshops, sewage treatment plant, perishable cargo shed etc.

He also informs, he has come to know now, that the present terminal building is going to be demolished only partially, thus down-sizing the original plan drastically. Obviously, there will not be 12 parking bays as originally planned, and perhaps, very few  or no aerobridges would be built, Naik assumes. He has reminded Patel, that the union minister was scheduled to lay the foundation stone for the Dabolim expansion project as originally planned ,last year.

As regards the parallel taxi track which has to be  developed jointly by the navy and the AAI, there has been no progress as the navy has still not furnished the no objection certificate to the AAI to start the construction, Naik points out in his memorandum to the Minister. He has also added, that the navy has still not transferred the 8.77 acres of land to the AAI, as required for the expansion of the airport.

Recalling the background of the illegal occupation of land by the navy,  Naik says, "it is difficult to imagine that an area of 1840 acres of land, belonging to the Goa government, has just been occupied by the navy, without any title in their favour. They made the AAI and the Goa government beg for returning a few acres of land for the expansion of Dabolim Airport.

Although the AAI is in occupation of merely 34 acres out of the total 1840 acres, the navy has  still not executed any legal document like a lease deed in favour of the AAI, to legally transfer the land. This is perhaps because the navy does not want to legally part with the land or that even if they want to part with it, they cannot do so, as they themselves do not have legal title to the 1840 acres of land, he has stated.

In fact, Mopa Committee report has recommended that all the mutation cases of the navy as regards Dabolim land should be reviewed by the concerned authorities,  Naik says. He has in addition, stressed the need  to review, at the earliest, the union cabinet decision of closing down the airport once Mopa becomes operational.

Naik said, that as a confidence building measure, it is essential that the decision of the Prime Minister should be taken to its logical end by immediately reversing the union cabinet's earlier decision, without waiting till the Mopa airport becomes operational.