Panaji, February 12 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday that the Centre plans to convert South Goa's Dabolim airport exclusively for defence use, joining other opposition parties who have made similar claims, an assertion rejected by a state minister.
The international airport at Dabolim is part of the Indian Navy's INS Hansa base in the coastal state.
Kejriwal asserted that any move to stop civilian flights from the airport will not be acceptable to the people of Goa and will face resistance.
"The BJP government at the centre is planning to convert Dabolim (airport) exclusively for defence purposes. Dabolim is a lifeline for South Goa," Kejriwal wrote on his X handle.
"This is not acceptable to the people of Goa. We will fight to ensure that Dabolim continues for civil purposes," the former Delhi chief minister insisted.
Separately, AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh, in a video released in New Delhi, claimed that the Modi government was planning to shut operations at the Dabolim airport.
"The Modi government wants to sell off every part of the country and hand over every sector to its friends, even if it means people lose their livelihoods," he alleged.
"Now, the BJP government is preparing to sell the Dabolim airport in Goa. This will destroy the livelihoods of taxi drivers, hotel owners, and people connected to the airport," Singh maintained.
Other opposition parties have also claimed that the Union government was planning to close the Dabolim airport, but Goa Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho insisted that there was no such plan.
Godinho told PTI that he met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh after learning that the GMR group, which operates the Manohar International Airport (MIA) in North Goa, was "lobbying" for turning the Dabolim airport into an exclusive naval facility.
Singh assured that both airports will remain operational for commercial air traffic, he said.
The talk about the closure of the Dabolim airport started after Godinho and Rajya Sabha member from Goa Sadanand Tanavade met Singh in Delhi earlier this week.
The tourist state, which receives thousands of foreign travellers every year, has two airports: Dabolim (South Goa) and the newly-constructed MIA at Mopa (North Goa), which started operations in early 2023.
Goa Forward Party (GFP) chief Vijai Sardesai claimed that the defence minister called Godinho to Delhi to inform him that the Dabolim facility would be handed over entirely to the Navy.
The former minister demanded that Godinho resign from the cabinet and as an MLA for "failing" to save the airport, and warned of an agitation over the issue after the carnival celebrations are over.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant should make a categorical statement on the issue within a week, Sardesai insisted.
Goa Congress chief Amit Patkar said that party MP Viriato Fernandes had written to the defence minister and urged him not to close the Dabolim airport. He cautioned that the closure would be a disaster for the South Goa district and its tourism industry.
The Congress-led UPA government had taken a cabinet decision that both airports would remain functional for commercial services, Patkar said, adding, "I don't know why the Modi government is so determined to close it."
