Panaji, Aug 16 (IANS): The opposition Goa Congress on Monday urged Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to set up a RT-PCR test centre at the state's only airport -- the Dabolim international airport. The Congress alleged that international airlines were forced to discontinue flights from the airport in the absence of such a facility.

"We don't want Goans to lose their jobs or their money and so we appeal to the Director of Goa International Airport and the Airports Authority of India, to immediately complete the process of enabling the RT-PCR test facility to be made available preferably to multiple vendors. This has been done so that the current Goa government does not have exclusive monopoly to control the prices and make the passengers hostage to their whims and fancies," Goa Congress President Girish Chodankar told the media on Monday, adding that such a move would provide relief to thousands of Goans and people travelling overseas.

"Due to this situation passengers are being forced to cancel their pre-booked tickets and book fresh ones via Mumbai where the RT-PCR facility is available at the airport. This causes financial loss because the refund is not being done by the airlines which is giving credit and even if a refund is made, a huge amount is lost in the process. Also the purchase of flight tickets -- for both domestic and international flights, at the last minute will cost the citizens heavily as the prices are sky-rocketing," Chodankar said.