Goa DefExpo Turns Into a Logistical Nightmare for Ministry of Defence

NEW DELHI: After 15 years DefExpo India, a big international extravaganza, is being shifted out of Delhi to Goa. And has officials concerned with the management scratching their heads, brows creased with worry, and tempers running short, as they deal with the non-existent logistics of the shift.

For Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar who is from Goa, it is a chance to show off his new job in his home city. For the officials charged with the shift it is a logistical nightmare, with three major concerns that still remain unresolved:

1. the Mickey Mouse airport that they feel does not have the wherewithal to cope with the big aircraft that fly in from across the world with the heavy equipment that the participants want to showcase at the defence fair;

2. the narrow roads of Goa that will make it difficult for the trucks and the weaponry to make its way through to the expo field that has been allocated for the event;

3.the infrastructure at the field itself, that has to be built from scratch. No one knows where to begin with the initial proposal that everything should be lodged in tents seeming totally unfeasible.

The last more so, as the DefExpo has been postponed from February to April which is a hot month by any standards. Parrikar, despite being from Goa, had clearly forgotten when he announced the initial dates for February that Goa holds an annual carnival in that month that cannot be pushed around without serious protest from the locals and the participants. Hence the new dates are in April, when Goa will be hot, and clearly non-airconditioned tents not an option for the hundreds of foreigners participating in the event.

The reason for the shift is that Pragati Maidan where the DefExpo is held every two years is being refurbished. But as experts pointed out this could have been delayed to after February but was not done. The defence fair has grown substantially with nearly 700 major companies and governments participating from 30 countries across the world with heavy weaponry part of the exhibition.

As defence experts pointed out, in the 15 years the DefExpo had acquired a certain gravitas, with defence personnel, bureaucrats, vendors et al milling around Pragati Maidan during the event. For many of the participants the opportunity to meet government officials, military officers and others was seen as an added attraction and benefit that is not expected to be present in Goa to the same extent. All the event has at the moment is a 150 acre empty field that has still to be developed for the event.

Local newspapers in Goa have criticised the decision, wondering how this event is going to help the people there. Questions have been raised in Delhi as well about the advisability of the move, with experts pointing out that a better choice for the shift would have been Bengaluru as it already has the infrastructure that could cope with the event. Given the fact that hundreds of participants will descend on Goa, the price of hotel rooms, the availability of sufficient taxis, and basic living facilities are also now a part of the organisers nightmare.