This story is from January 31, 2015

Take to the streets, says Churchill Alemao

In an attempt to stir up passions over the proposed Mopa airport, former PWD minister Churchill Alemao on Friday tugged at the heartstrings of the people cautioning them that if Dabolim airport is shut, it would spell disaster for Goa
Take to the streets, says Churchill Alemao

MARGAO: In an attempt to stir up passions over the proposed Mopa airport, former PWD minister Churchill Alemao on Friday tugged at the heartstrings of the people cautioning them that if Dabolim airport is shut, it would spell disaster for Goa.
“If we fail in stopping Mopa, Goa will be doomed, the economy will crash and the future generation will curse us. It (the fate of Mopa) is now in the hands of the people.
If people come out in large numbers, if 2-4 lakh people take to the streets, Mopa is bound to go. If not, the agitation will not succeed. Churchill alone will not be able to stop Mopa. But if people believe in Churchill’s words, I urge them to come out in large numbers to oppose Mopa, as they did during the Nylon 6,6 agitation and the official language agitation,” Alemao said, while addressing mediapersons.
He condemned the preliminary report of the environment impact assessment (EIA) on the Mopa airport terming it as “a shoddy and unacceptable document, which is false and misleading, and is manipulated and prepared without taking ground realities (into consideration)”. He demanded that the EIA hearing scheduled to be held on February 1 be postponed until a proper study
is conducted.
Stating that he has already submitted his objections and queries for the EIA hearing, Alemao said he would attend the hearing in case the government goes ahead with it as scheduled.
“The government is trying to pacify the people by saying that Dabolim and Mopa will continue together, but this will not be possible once Mopa starts, as the figures given by the government justifying the Mopa airport do not match the traffic flow projections to sustain both airports,”
Alemao said.
He further came out with a rather
quirky suggestion to resolve the Mopa
imbroglio.
“Large swathes of land (in Mormugao taluka) were sold (to an industrial organization) by the then Bandodkar government at a dirt cheap rate of 0.25 paise per sq m. The government can very well buy back the land at a reasonable price and shift the Navy there, thereby making sufficient land available at Dabolim to construct two runways,” Alemao suggested.
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