What haunts Goa’s new airport at Mopa?

There’s something swirling over Goa’s international airport in Mopa – Manohar International Airport – that is spooking the locals no end. Since the time the airport project was announced rumours about the site being haunted or sighting of paranormal activities have circled over it.

These ghostly tales have mostly been dismissed and termed as a conspiracy against the new airport by a section of the tourism industry which has been adversely affected. The airport has now been operational for over a year, and just when such irrational talks of ghosts were waning, it’s been brought under the media spotlight by politician Vijai Sardesai.

The member of legislative assembly (MLA) from the Fatorda constituency, while interacting with the press recently, gave credence to it by asking them to check why Goans were refusing to work at the airport after 10.30 pm.

Elaborating on his comment, he told Gomantak Times Digital: “They (locals) say something about (the airport) being haunted. This is (based on) belief system - some people don’t believe this and some people believe it. I don’t want to comment on that.  I have only told the facts. That is why I have told the media they should check whether these are normal or paranormal activities”.

Sardesai claims refusal to work beyond 10.30 pm at the airport by the locals was “a fact”. “What I have said is a fact. After 10.30 pm, Goans or locals do not work at the airport. If it is a fact then go into the reasons of it. Every local from that area will tell you (about it),” asserted the member of Goa Forward Party (GFP).

Environmentalist Rajendra Kerkar, who knows most areas around Goa, especially Western Ghats, like the back of his hand, says he has not observed any paranormal happenings during his visits to the airport at night.

“(I have) no idea about these rumours - whether they are true or untrue. I came in at night and everything was normal,” he said.  

He links the eerie airport banters to the belief among locals that the entire plateau, where the airport has come up, belongs to the spirits of Barazan – 12 headmen or elders who established the village.

The villagers in the area used to perform rituals at the shrine under a tree for their protection before the airport was developed. Late Anant Dhume, a cultural historian, had described a Barazan “as a flat piece covered with wild trees with about a dozen small stones linked to the plinth placed there”.

Kerkar says the Barazan area at the Mopa airport has been left untouched by airport authorities. People in the area still visit the tree, which is in the parking area, to worship the spirits of Barazan.  “Earlier, there was a small shrine, where people offered coconut and performed annual rituals. No one dared to touch the tree in that area,” he mentions.

The Barazan area is at the right side of the airport’s entrance gate in the parking lot and people continue to pray at the site. Kerkar also disputed theories of caves under the airport runway. What were taken to be caves were actually craters and pits dug out during geological testing for bauxite mining by miners in the area.

“People were thinking there were caves, but I visited the area and told them they were craters and pits created during bauxite mining,” he said, shining light on the mystery of caves under the airport runway.   

A GMR Goa International Airport Limited (GGIAL) official, who spoke to Gomantak Times Digital anonymously, refuted Sardesai’s statement saying their employees were at the airport 24/7.  

“Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighter (ARFF) staff has to be there (airport) 24 hours. You cannot leave the airport or aircraft unmanned at any time of the day or night. We are working here (at the airport) and there is nothing wrong,” he said.

He informed 50-60 per cent of the GGIAL employees were locals. He further clarified, “There were rumours there are caves under the runway. People from archaeological department came to check but found nothing”.

He said the new airport at Mopa operates several flights after 10.30 pm daily and there have been no problems with them.

On Tuesday, the last departure of a domestic flight from the Mopa airport was at 10.45 pm while an international flight arrived in the wee hours of Wednesday at 1.55 am and departed at 3.40 am.  

But Sardesai is not fully convinced by these logical reasoning. A grain of doubt is stubbornly lodged in his head as he says, “The rebuttal (to his statement) is not very strong from them”.

And, thus, rumours continue to swirl over the swanky new airport, evoking ghostly myths and beliefs of the past.