Seeking to assuage protesting farmers whose land has been acquired for the Mopa airport, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Tuesday promised to appoint a retired deputy collector to help those who have yet to claim compensation from the government on account of technical reasons.
PANAJI
“We know that there are some families who are yet to collect the compensation on account of some technical grounds. We will go a step ahead and appoint a retired deputy collector who will be at the Government Complex in Pernem to help the farmers claim compensation,” stated Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar in his speech after the signing of the concession agreement with GMR Airports Ltd to develop and operate the greenfield airport project at Mopa.
Referring to the displacement of around 14 Dhangar families, Parsekar said that each family will not only be provided with an alternate 300-500 sq mt of land with a dwelling, but also a goat shed as well as 15,000 sq mt of land for grazing of their animals.
“We have identified three such sites for the grazing area,” Parsekar said.
Earlier, at a formal ceremony held on Tuesday, the Goa government signed a concession agreement with the specially created special purpose vehicle, GMR Goa International Airport Ltd, and the Goa government. The agreement was signed and exchanged between R V Seshan, CEO of GMR Goa International Airport Ltd and the Chief Secretary R K Srivastava, on the day Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar completed two years in office.
Speaking on the occasion, Srinivas Bommidala, chairman of GMR Infrastructure’s airports’ wing, said that the company is very capable of building Goa’s airport, the second airport across the country to be privatised.
“We won the right to develop India’s first greenfield PPP airport at Hyderabad in 2001 and subsequently won a 60-year concession for Delhi International Airport in 2006. Capitalising on our Indian experience, we were able to win airport projects in Turkey, Maldives and most recently in Philippines,” Bommidala said, adding that GMR group handles around 75 million passengers annually.
Mopa is the first airport to be privatised in India for a decade, with the last bid process completed in May 2006.
He praised the government for handling the entire bidding process. “Bid processes for large PPP processes are fairly complicated. However, the leadership shown by the Goa Government in providing policy clarity and addressing the concerns of the bidders was indeed exemplary,” he said, adding that they will be “encouraging the Ministry of Civil Aviation and other states to follow the Goa model.”
“A civil airport owned by Goa Government will also boost state revenues from customs duty and fuel related cess which can be used for social development projects. Similarly, a round the clock operational airport at Goa will not only boost tourism but also help Goa recapture its export cargo market that it has lost to Mumbai,” Bommidala said.
The group had won the bid by promising the State government 36.99 per cent to the State government after an initial period of five years upon commissioning of the airport.
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"We know that there are some families who are yet to collect the compensation on account of some technical grounds. We will go a step ahead and appoint a retired deputy collector who will be at the Government Complex in Pernem to help the farmers claim compensation."
Laxmikant Parsekar, Chief Minister
