the goan I network
PANAJI/VASCO
Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral has petitioned the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change that Goa’s unique khazan lands be excluded from the purview of the Coastal Regulation Zone restrictions beyond the geographical point of sluice gates in their eco-systems.
Cabral, who headed a team of officials and scientists made the pitch to exclude the khazans from being subject to the CRZ restrictions at a meeting with top officials of the MoEFCC in Delhi on Monday afternoon.
The argument put forth in the pitch to support the demand, according to a senior official in the Goa Environment ministry is that there is no tidal effect in the waters beyond the first sluice gate in the water bodies that dot the Khazan lands although they are contiguous with rivers and sometimes the sea.
Earlier on Sunday, Cabral and the team of officials and experts had a lucky escape after their Delhi bound flight was hit by an engine fire minutes after take-off from Dabolim close to midnight on Sunday. The flight was aborted after the pilots managed to put out
the fire and return to land back in Dabolim.
Meanwhile, Dabolim Airport Director Gagan Malik said the IndiGo flight 6E 336 was grounded after one of its engines had encountered
a “technical snag” midair en route to New Delhi on Sunday night and added that engineers were working on the stricken aircraft.
Malik also said the flight could be ready to fly by Monday night or Tuesday afternoon.
Environment Minister Nilesh Cabral and a team of senior officials were among passengers and crew who had a lucky escape, when one engine of the New Delhi-bound IndiGo plane caught fire about 15 minutes into its flight.
The pilots then switched off the engine and put out the fire, before bringing the flight back to safety at Dabolim airport at about 11.30 pm.
“The flight took off from Goa airport and after flying for around 74 nautical miles, the pilot detected a problem with the engine. He turned back and landed safely at Goa airport and passengers were later sent by another flight.”
“I heard there was panic among passengers in the flight. Basically, all these aircraft are designed in such a way that they can fly to the destination or divert to the nearest airport on a single engine.”
“The plane has been grounded at the Goa airport and IndiGo engineers are working on the technical snag. Most probably, the plane will be ready to fly by Monday night or Tuesday afternoon,” said Malik.
Asked if the IndiGo airlines had confirmed the fire on one of its engines, the airport director replied: “We have been told by the IndiGo officials that there was a technical problem with the aircraft. The IndiGo airlines has not filed any report of a fire in the engine with us and only a technical problem with an engine has been conveyed to us,” added Malik.
