MARGAO
The Congress party has demanded immediate setting up Rapid PCR-testing facility at the Goan International airport at Dabolim.
GPCC Chief Girish Chodankar said that rapid PCR test is being demanded across countries, regardless of vaccination or antibody status and passengers are required to provide a Covid-19 Negative test certificate to board the international flight.
“As per our information, Air Arabia has stopped flights from Goa as there is no such facility for Goans and those boarding international flights from Goa.Due to this situation, passengers are being forced to cancel their pre-booked tickets and book fresh tickets via Mumbai where this facility is available at the airport. This causes financial loss because the refund is not being made by the airlines, which is giving credit and even if 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, is costing the citizens very heavily as the prices are sky-rocketing”, he claimed.
The GPCC Chief said “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 facility to be made available, preferably of multiple vendors, so that one establishment does not have exclusive monopoly to control the prices and make the passengers hostage to their whims and fancies. We hope this can give relief to thousands of Goans and others travelling overseas from Goa”.
