Centre will decide on name for new Mopa airport: Goa CM Pramod Sawant

Times of India | 2 days ago | 08-11-2022 | 01:00 pm

PANAJI: CM Pramod Sawant on Monday said that the decision to name the new greenfield international airport at Mopa will be taken by the Union government. The state government has not proposed any name for the new facility, he said. The comment comes amid demands to name the new airport after political personalities from Goa. The CM said naming airpots is the prerogative of the Union civil aviation ministry. Amidst demands to name the new greenfield international airport at Mopa after political personalities from Goa, chief minister Pramod Sawant on Monday said that the decision to name the new airport will be taken by the Union government. "It is the prerogative of the Union civil aviation ministry to decide on the name to be given for the new airport. We have not proposed any name to the Union government," Sawant told TOI. After reviewing the ongoing works at the airport on Friday, the chief minister had said that nearly 95% of the work has been completed. PM Narendra Modi will inaugurate the airport in mid-December, he had said. Sawant held a meeting with Pernem MLA Pravin Arlekar and a local panch on Monday to discuss recruitment for Mopa. He assured them that the local interest would be protected. Sawant said that 100 landing and take-off slots have been sought by domestic airline operators from December. International flights will commence from January, beginning with Oman Air, and more are likely to follow in the coming months. As the new airport nears completion, demands are cropping up from various sections of society to name it after Goa's first chief minister Dayanand Bandokar, Father of the Opinion Poll Dr Jack de Sequeira and former defence minister and ex-chief minister Manohar Parrikar among others. BJP state president Sadananad Shet Tanavade said that the Centre will decide on naming the new airport at Mopa. Power minister and MGP's Ramkrishna 'Sudin' Dhavalikar on Monday said that the new airport should be named after Bandodkar because of his contribution to the state. MGP on Sunday passed a resolution demanding that the airport be named after Bandodkar. Former CM and ex-MP Churchill Alemao said that the new airport should be named after Sequeira as due to his efforts Goa is an independent state today. Otherwise, Goa would have been part of Maharashtra, he added. "Today we see 40 MLAs in Goa only because of Sequeira's contribution," he said. Congress' Ramakant Khalap recently wrote to the chief minister to name the new airport after Bandodkar. "I submitted the letter to the chief minister... Let's name Mopa airport as Dayanand Bandodkar International Airport Goa. I do hope the chief minister will do the needful. Let's also commemorate post-Liberation all party leaders and freedom fighters in appropriate ways," Khalap had said.

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