It took a little under 15 minutes for a 15 year old dreamcome true for Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and he did pull it off with ironhand and a bit of stealth. On January 24, three of the topmost officials ofIndia’s Civil Aviation hierarchy made a quiet touchdown in Goa. Civil AviationSecretary K. N. Srivastava, Jt Secretary Alok SInha and Chairman, AirportsAuthority of India V P Agarwal were on a hush-hush mission to convey Governmentof India’s tacit go-ahead and work out a road map to fast track the MOPAairport project. Team Goan closely followed them to bring you this report
Knock Knock, Goemkar here
Jan 23 late evening: The aviation triumvirate checks inquietly at a capital based hotel. First on the draw, Fatorda MLA VijaiSardessai riding high on his regional outfit Geomkar’s success sought anappointment to meet the Aviation Secretary on Wednesday to pitch his outfit’sdemand to hold Mopa land acquisitions and get land allotted for parking atDabolim
Clandestine Chai
Jan 24. At 8.30 am, Srivastava and Sinha had a closed doormeeting with Chief Minister Parrikar attended amongst others by Director, MopaAirport Mihir Vardhan and Mopa Land Acquisition Officer Venincio Furtado.
“I want proper security and no protests”: Mihir Vardhan
9.30 am An hour later, all emerge to travel to Mopa.Vardhan, also the North Goa Collector, tells DySP Serafino Dias that whateverit takes, there should be no trouble and the police should stop anyobstruction.
Minutes later, Srivastava gets into a Toyota Camry while hisJoint Secretary follows in a E Class Mercedes Benz in a surprise departure fromtradition where High Officials travelling from Delhi would drive around inmid-level sedans.
Blackflag Blackouts
10.30 am On the plateau, fifteen people led by Sandip Kambliof Mopa Vimantal Pidit Xetkari Samiti with black flags and black gags aroundtheir mouths stand silently as the car convoy nosily glides by announcing thatthe government has stepped in and taken over. A posse of policemen form a humanchain around the outnumbered protestors. A lone man raises his hand and shoutsslogans but the locals stand in shock and awe. “We have two jeeps with eighthavaldars here forming a wall around the protestors to avoid any sloganshouting or agitation. Besides that we don’t expect much trouble at this visit.Locals are mostly at work at this time and we don’t expect an agitation,”explains DySP Dias looking at the silent protestors.
Bureaucratic blindness and more untruths
Goa Government officials show off the barren plateau toSrivastava, as far as the eye can see. “Are there any families living here?”,he asks. “Only 17 Dhangar families live in the locality. They are beingrehabilitated in the periphery and being given enough grazing land for theircattle and goats,” answers Special Land Acquisition Officer Furtado. Furtadodoes not show Srivastava that the Dhangars are not just cowherds but farmerstoo and have cropped land that they till.
More untruths follow “There is a small hamlet existing inthe vicinity that doesn’t come in the way of the proposed Greenfield airport,”continues Furtado. This ‘small’ hamlet is very much a part of the airport siteand here too two dozen families live here.
Goa gone, Mopa on
A stressed out Director Mopa Airport, Vardhan takes a breakas the Aviation bigwigs head back home for tea and change cars, as thequestioning by Civil Aviation authorities is too much to handle. “CivilAviation Secretary was keen to see the site of proposed airport and wanted tohave a firsthand feel of the region and access roads. It was a general visitpursuant to discussions between CM and Secretary,” explains Mihir Vardhanexclusively to The Goan. Furtado moved to Pernem Mamlatdar Office to collectPossession Certificates of Land Acquisition based on the notification ofJanuary 16. Hours later, Goa Government announces that Section 7 of LAA 1894 isin place as the Collector is in possession of all the acquired land.
