Political consensus necessary on new airport in Goa: Digvijay

Congress today demanded a political consensus on the vexed issue of greenfield airport at Mopa in Goa, being opposed by a section of local population.
The opponents fear, among other things, that the existing facility at Dabolim would be shut down once the second airport comes up at Mopa on Maharashtra-Goa border.
Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh, on a visit to the state, said the issue had to be solved through a consensus.
"Consensus has to emerge between all the political parties. The consensus should be about the future development of Goa," he said.
Local Congress leaders are divided on the issue.

Singh, the new in-charge of Congress's Goa desk, refused to clarify the party's stand, saying that views of those who support continuance of facility at Dabolim were needed to be taken into consideration.
"This is something that the party has to decide. We cannot ignore voices of people supporting Dabolim, but we also need to think about possibility of growth through new airport," he said. "Whole issue has to be considered from the macro view... We have to consider the kind of traffic that would be arriving in future and whether Dabolim has a capacity to take that.