Pollution board gives green signal to Mopa airport

Panaji: As the Mopa International Airport is set to be inaugurated sometime next month, the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) carried out an inspection of the new airport premises last week, based on a request from the GMR Goa International Airport for grant of consent to operate.
Conducting the inspection, GSPCB officials, led by chairman Mahesh Patil, saw the working of the different equipment installed at the airport, especially the noise monitoring, waste and water disposal. It was decided to grant consent to operate after inspecting the passenger terminal building, the air traffic control technical building, administration building, cargo and utility building, among others.
The new greenfield airport at Mopa is likely to start operations by late November or early December and official with the directorate of civil aviation have already stated that chief minister Pramod Sawant has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a date between November 1 and 20 to inaugurate the new airport.
Earlier this month, the GSPCB had granted consent to operate to the All India Institute of Ayurveda and CISF battalion headquarters, which are also, like Mopa, located in Pernem taluka, until now a largely rural sub-district of Goa.
The directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) has already cleared the decks for operations to start from Mopa airport, by issuing the aerodrome licence, certifying the airport safe for handling flights. Now the GSPCB has decided to grant its consent to operate. The inspection by the board was carried out on October 20.
The new airport is keenly awaited as the existing airport at Dabolim operates out of the Indian Navy airbase INS Hansa and as December is the peak tourism season for Goa. The airport project will be completed in four phases.