Goa: Even if Mopa opens mid-December, ‘flights may not take off so soon’

Times of India | 4 days ago | 24-11-2022 | 10:12 am

Goa: Even if Mopa opens mid-December, ‘flights may not take off so soon’

PANAJI: Even as the new international airport at Mopa is expected to be inaugurated by mid-December, the airport itself will not be operationalised immediately, said officials. Official sources said that it would take at least a month before the first commercial flight lands at Mopa. While chief minister Pramod Sawant has said that PM Narendra Modi is likely to inaugurate the airport on December 11, the airport is not ready to handle commercial flights and the passengers that will arrive on the flights. "The inauguration is likely to be held soon, but the airport will be operational later, because a lot of preparation is left, and other stakeholders also need to complete certain processes," said the official, who did not wish to be named. One of the key tasks pending is the operational readiness and airport transfer (ORAT), a process of turning a newly-constructed airport into an operational facility by operationalising everything from commercial spaces and parking spaces to training of staff and management. The airport staff, who are still being recruited, need to go through a training and familiarisation programme, along with security measures and customer-centric services. Services such as the automated baggage conveyors, flight information display systems, access control doors, and fire safety equipment also need to be tested. The PMO is yet to confirm the date, but minister of state for ports Shripad Naik said that Modi will attend the 9th World Ayurveda Congress and Arogya Expo hosted in Goa from December 8 to 11. While five international airlines and all domestic carriers have approached GMR Goa International Airport Limited (GGIAL) to operate out of the yet-to-be-commissioned airport, Oman Air is the only airline to official announce that it will commence operations from January. Domestic airlines have sought 100 landing and take-off slots, but the director general of civil aviation has yet to approve the requests. There is already a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) team at Mopa, but the risk assessment and mitigation audit is yet to be completed. The GMR Group, which operates the Delhi and Hyderabad airports, is working with contractors and sub-contractors to get the passenger terminal building ready in time for the inauguration, while the other aspects of the airport will be completed post the inauguration. "Only after the inauguration will airlines officially start selling tickets. Airlines will keep a lead time of at least a fortnight before flights actually land. Their staff have to be trained and deployed with all their systems in place," said the source. GGIAL has already received the aerodrome licence, and passenger airliners and private executive jets have already started landing as part of the testing phase.

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Times of India | 4 hours ago | 29-11-2022 | 02:40 am
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New Delhi: The new international airport at Mopa is likely to become operational in the first week of January, possibly on the fifth, sources said.CM Pramod Sawant had said at the Times Now Summit last week that PM Narendra Modi could tentatively inaugurate it on December 11.“It takes about a month to make an airport operational after the inauguration,” sources said. “Airlines need to mark on tickets to and from Goa which airport the flight will operate from, Dabolim or Mopa. Also, CISF has to move in and take over security of the facility, which takes around 15 days. People who have bought tickets to and from Goa for the coming months will be informed by airlines via SMS in case their flights will now land at or depart from Mopa.” GMR Goa International Airport Limited (GGIAL), which will operate the airport, is looking at January 5 as Mopa’s opening date. On October 26, the directorate general of civil aviation had issued the aerodrome licence to the Airport after a series of checkposts, thus, the airport was certified to be safe for handling flights. Airlines like IndiGo have indicated that they will operate from both the existing Dabolim airport and the new one at Mopa.The Mopa airport is keenly awaited as Dabolim, a Naval airport, has limited slots for scheduled commercial flights. For years, this has meant flights during limited hours of the day — and hence high fares in peak travel season — for passengers. Being a 100% civilian airport, Mopa will allow more flights to Goa — at least doubling from current numbers.The airports economic regulatory authority (AERA) this August issued an ad hoc tariff order for the GMR-developed Mopa airport. For the first few years, second airports that will soon start opening in Indian cities/regions could be relatively more expensive than the single ones operating there so far. The reason: A majority of them will need to compete for traffic with the existing ones. When Bengaluru and Hyderabad got new airports in 2009 and 2008, respectively, the exiting ones — HAL and Begumpet — were closed for commercial flights. AERA’s ad hoc aeronautical charges tariff order for Mopa includes a user development fee (UDF) of Rs 450 and Rs 1,100 per departing domestic and international passenger respectively. The GMR group that has developed Mopa had proposed a UDF of Rs 980 and Rs 1,500. The authority felt “the proposal of the airport operator is on the higher side and needs to be moderated”. The authority has decided to allow GGIAL to charge the ad hoc tariff till March 31, 2023, or if the regular tariff order is issued before that.

Mopa likely to start ops from Jan 5, flyers will be informed by SMS
Centre permits manual extraction from sandbars & beach shacks in CRZ areas
Times of India | 4 hours ago | 29-11-2022 | 02:40 am
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With Tillari dam shut, parts of Bardez reel under shortage
Times of India | 4 hours ago | 29-11-2022 | 02:40 am
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Panaji: With Maharashtra shutting down the Tillari dam for maintenance, parts of Bardez taluka are struggling for water supply. Residents in some of the wards in Porvorim said they are facing a lot of inconvenience due to the erratic water supply. Public works department (PWD) and the water resources department (WRD) confirmed that Goa and Maharashtra agreed to shut supply of water from the Tillari dam from November 11 to December 10 to carry out the annual maintenance, including the Tillari project tributaries.“There is a severe shortage of water in some parts of Porvorim, such as Pundalik Nagar Housing Board, Journalists Colony and the tail end areas,” said a resident. “This has been happening for the last 15 days. PWD does not have sufficient water tankers to supply water.”PWD officials have urged residents to use water “judiciously” till the repairs are complete. “Maharashtra stopped releasing water on November 11 and the WRD has said that the work will go on for at least a month. The WRD officials have also conducted site visits to understand the condition of the canals. Since the Tillari infrastructure is several years old, there is a lot of seepage. The maintenance work is expected to be completed by December 10,” said a PWD chief engineer.To meet the needs of water in Porvorim and nearby areas, around 100 MLD is being pumped from the Amthane dam and the balance requirement is being taken from the barrage at Assonora.

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Times of India | 1 day ago | 28-11-2022 | 04:05 am
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Panaji: Fourteen years after a woman was accused of producing a forged SSCE marksheet and related documents before the passport authority in Panaji, a Panaji court has acquitted her for the offences after the prosecution “miserably failed” to prove its case.“The making of the false document is the basic ingredient of the offence of forgery. In the present case, the prosecution has miserably failed to prove the role of the accused in making a false document,” stated chief judicial magistrate, A Court, Panaji, Ram S Prabhu Dessai.The court found that the SSCE marksheet and school leaving certificate were not sent for scientific examination, and added that the investigating officer didn’t carry out any investigation in respect to the paper used for the marksheet, as well as the ink and machinery used to commit the offence.“…there is absolutely no investigation done so far as making of the false document is concerned. Although the investigating officer was aware that custodian of the blank marksheet was the director of education, the investigating officer deemed it fit not to investigate in that direction,” the court stated.The woman had allegedly produced a forged SSCE marksheet, passing certificate of Goa Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education and a school leaving certificate before the passport authority to avail passport facilities through a travel agent.“It appears that the entire investigation is done by the investigating officer under the pre-supposition that the accused has forged the said documents,” the court added.From the evidence of the passport officer, the court found that the investigating officer collected documents from the passport office without conducting a panchanama.Advocate G Teles, representing the accused, submitted that the passport officer along with the travel agent are in connivance in issuing passports and that there is every possibility that the travel agent might have obtained the woman’s signatures on the form and arranged the forged documents without the knowledge of the accused by charging fees.

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