Goa Congress blasts navy jets’ sonic booms
By IANSWednesday, February 17, 2010
PANAJI - The state Congress has accused the Indian Navy of acting “irresponsibly” and scaring the wits out of the local populace in the wake of the Pune terror strike, a Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) spokesperson Wednesday said.
Senior state Congress general secretary Vishnu Wagh was addressing the media against the backdrop of secret trials conducted by the Indian Navy MiG-29Ks, whose sonic booms triggered a chain of mysterious explosion-like sounds for days together.
The explosion-like sounds were first heard Feb 11 along the coast of Canacona, 80 km from here, and subsequently along the North Goa coast at Arambol Tuesday.
“We respect the defence forces, but that does not mean that they take us for granted and scare the people of this state,” Wagh told a press conference today.
Referring to the recent terror strike in Pune, Wagh said the country was going through a tough phase and Goa was perennially on the terror radar, which made it all the more imperative for the Indian Navy to warn the civilian population about the explosion-like sounds triggered by its Russian fighter jets. These are being tested before being inducted into the Indian Navy in a couple of days.
“The Congress has taken serious note of this attitude of the Indian Navy. We will take it up with Defence Minister A.K. Anthony in New Delhi,” Wagh said.
Congress Rajya Sabha member from Goa Shantaram Naik has registered his formal protest against the Indian Navy before the defence ministry officials Wednesday.
“I have protested against the Indian Navy’s act of not informing the state government about its trial flight of newly-inducted fighter planes off the state’s coast recently, which triggered suspicion of a bomb blasts,” Naik told IANS.
The booming sounds triggered considerable panic amongst the residents as well as the state administration which started a combing operation to get to the bottom of the matter.
According to Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, Indian Navy officials conveyed the reason behind the mysterious explosion-like sounds to the state government Tuesday, nearly six days after the first incident.
