PANAJI
Wading into the controversy over naming the airport at Mopa as 'Manohar International Airport' Congress legislator Carlos Ferreira Alvares on Monday termed it joke especially after the BJP government in the State has multiple times insulted the legacy of former chief minister Manohar Parrikar.
"Why not have the courage to call it 'Manohar Parrikar International Airport'?," Alvares asked at a press conference even as he drew attention that airports across the world bear the full name of the personality they are named after.
He cited the example of the Charles Galle airport in France and the John F Kennedy airport in the US.
Alvares also hit out at the government for reducing the event graced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday to inaugurate the airport into a BJP propaganda event, even as he flagged the breach in protocol of blanking out the State's Opposition Leader Yuri Alemao and South Goa MP, Francisco Sardinha.
Alvares also said that the State government was bluffing the people by claiming that the civilian operations at the Navy-controlled airport at Dabolim will continue in the future.
"Dabolim Airport will become unviable the moment Mopa starts operating to capacity. The government may not officially close it down but it will die a slow death," Alvares said, adding that he saw no logic in airlines continuing to operate there.
Meanwhile, GPCC president Amit Patkar demanded an apology to the Goan public from Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for the mismanagement of the inaugural event where hundreds of Goans who were taken to the site were denied access to the venue.
He also countered the claim made by Modi in his address at the inaugural of the airport that the Congress only spent money on appeasement throughout its tenure in power at the Centre.
"Our governments introduced laws like the 73rd and 74th amendment to the Constitution to empower local self-government bodies, the Right to Information Act, Right to Education, Food Security Act, etc. If BJP feels these laws and schemes are appeasements, Congress is proud of it," Patkar said.
