Vrinda Gopinath 
Goa: In the bedlam between social media influencers, tourism stakeholders, and the state government regarding the drastic decline in tourist numbers at Goa’s beachside resorts, and the vehement denials from concerned ministries of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP-led) Pramod Sawant government, an otherworldly narrative has emerged, shrouding the new Manohar International Airport (or, Mopa airport) in an eerie mystique.
According to mortified locals, Mopa is haunted and overrun by ghosts, which is why planes bringing even more tourists cannot land here. It’s perhaps for the first time that a modern airport has been haunted by ghost stories and paranormal happenings.
Named after the late chief minister, Manohar Parrikar, Mopa has over the last few months been under the spell of ghostly stories of ancient spirits – and no, it’s not the spirit of Parrikar that is haunting the airport – that storm the runway after midnight, swooping and swaying in demoniac delight, even as wailing screams of women waft across from the sacred forests beyond the walls of Mopa, followed by howls of foxes and screeching of fluttering birds.
Stories of ghostly apparitions hovering on the runway are agog and rumours of hectic poltergeist activity abound as locals insist that the reason there are no night landings is because of the paranormal movement on the runways, and that pilots refuse to land, apart from locals refusing to work after 11 pm.
The phantasm of Mopa’s haunted location has popped up yet again, with speculation that tourism is doomed because of the airport’s unpropitious site. It’s not that the airport is built on a cursed land, say locals, it’s just that the construction has disrupted ancient spirits who protected the area, after sacred trees were uprooted and chopped to clear the site for the greenfield airport.
The connection with the sacred grove
So, how true are these spectral stories of Mopa’s haunted location?
The Wire spoke to important stakeholders of the brand new airport which was commissioned for operation only in December 2022. Here’s how the story unfolded:
The drive to Mopa is quite magical, as a modern four-way highway, just off the national highway to Mumbai, connects the main towns to the airport, in the northernmost tip bordering Maharashtra. Surrounded by undulating hills of the Western Ghats, Mopa was allotted 9.19 sq kms of land on the Barazan plateau, the only flat table top area in the region, spanning across six villages in Pernem taluka.
The Barazan plateau was ecologically significant as it had laterite rock below the ground surface which facilitated natural groundwater recharge because of its porosity. Through an intricate web of perennial springs and rivulets, the plateau supplied drinking water through the year to neighbouring villages. Mopa airport cemented the area, and villagers’ taps now run dry more than often.
The ancient sacred tree bordering Mopa airport wall where villagers light a lamp and offer flowers. Photo: Vrinda Gopinath
Mopa was constructed on a sacred grove dedicated to Barazan, distinguished by a cluster of ancient trees. According to local folklore, the grove was believed to be visited by the spirits of the 12 village headmen who founded the village of Barazan.
Villagers still visit a giant tree that is revered as a sacred spot, that borders the Mopa property, where coconuts and flowers are offered daily and it is also where the wizened 50-year-old Sudar Sitaram Kambli, has just lit a lamp as the darkening sky in the evening grows even as the electric glow from the giant ATC tower throws a spectral light.
“This is our ancient land even though we came only a few generations ago from Maharashtra,’’ says Kambli, who works as a welder in the beach belt of north Goa, adding, “and so we were given the Kambli name which was our village back then.” Kambli has been at the forefront of the court battle against the state government, seeking compensation for the land acquired, but so far, it has been an uphill and unsuccessful struggle.
When asked how true are the stories of ghosts and paranormal activities in the area, Kambli says, “We always hear the cries of women coming from that direction,’’ pointing into the dark horizon.
“But no, I haven’t seen any apparition,’’ he adds, when prodded about ghost sightings.
To illustrate his conviction about protecting the Barazan spirits, Kambli recounts an incident where GMR was allegedly forced to invite exorcists from Bengal to facilitate the felling of a sacred tree “which refused to bend”. “The company had to get two JCBs to uproot the tree, but both of them broke down, and finally it was only the Bengali magicians who could release the tree after eight weeks of trying.”
The area is also used by villagers to cremate the dead, along the boundary wall of Mopa, though unmarked, but it has never spooked villagers.
ATC Tower. Photo: Vrinda Gopinath
The alleged spooky occurrences at Mopa were highlighted by none other than Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardesai. Sardesai first raised it in the assembly six months ago and at a press conference thereafter, and reiterated yet again to The Wire, when he asked, ‘’Is it normal or paranormal activity? But there is fear among locals to work late night at Mopa.’’
Sardesai was more prudent when prodded further about his ghost busting theories. “The BJP govt was in a hurry to open the airport before the last elections, so, yes, there are technical issues that have impacted night landings, like low visibility, and planes have been diverted due to bad weather conditions. However, locals have passed down stories about paranormal activity in and around Mopa for generations. This needs to be checked.’’
Many don’t believe in the ghost stories
Darshan, Rohan and Saurabh run one of the several taxi services in Mopa. They belong to the neighbouring villages but are completely dismissive about the ghost stories.
Darshan says, ‘’We are locals and I’ve been working in Mopa for the last four years, at the time of construction itself and I’ve not heard or seen any such incidents.’’
Saurabh admits there is only one night landing after 2 am, a Qatar Airways flight. He adds, “It seems the airport has been built to service the Sindhudurg and Malwan area across the border in Maharashtra, which is being developed as an alternative beach destination to Goa.’’
The taxi drivers also underline that the drive from Mopa to South Goa is not only exorbitantly expensive but is time consuming because of the traffic jams due to flyover construction work; the flyover is being constructed for better connectivity between North Goa to South Goa. “The luxury hotels are more in the south and we hear there is a powerful lobby stopping the shift from Dabolim airport to Mopa,’’ says Darshan.
Yamini Warkhand, a 24-year-old, works at the counter of Blue Cabs. She is a local resident who lives in the neighbourhood of the airport. Although she initially admitted to being afraid to work late nights due to the eerie stories surrounding Mopa, she claims to have overcome her fear after her mother advised her not to believe such tales.
“I finish my duty by 10.30 pm and I ride my scooter to my village a few kilometres away without any fear as the roads are well lit and I feel safe,’’ Yamini says, adding that she could work late if necessary but the occasion has never risen so far.
Dabolim versus Mopa
The tiny coastal state of Goa had only one airport for decades – the naval base at Dabolim in south Goa which also allowed commercial flights after Indian Navy jets finished their sorties from 8 am to 12 noon. Tourism stakeholders have been demanding a full fledged commercial airport over the last few years as tourism footfall projections were high – from nine million to an expected rush to double in a few years.
However, it has only plunged with foreign tourists dropping to almost 60% but domestic tourists making up for the loss. ‘’The difference is how much does the average domestic tourist spend in the state? It’s not much,’’ says a three-star hotelier who didn’t want to be named. The Goa government, however, has rushed in to provide provisional figures of tourism arrivals stating a 21% tourism growth, attracting over 10.4 million visitors in 2024.
However, there has been a battle between the Airport Authority of India-operated (AAI-operated) Dabolim and the GMR-operated airport at Mopa under Public Private Partnership-operated (PPP) model. South Goa MLAs have been petitioning the Union and state governments to not shift airline operations to Mopa.
In fact, chief minister Sawant has also petitioned the civil aviation ministry a few months ago to offer more incentives to airlines to continue operating in Dabolim. At present, Dabolim airport handles nearly twice the domestic air traffic compared to Mopa.
It’s a gungho GMR official who says that Mopa airport has seen a 27% increase in flights in 2024. While the senior official didn’t want to be named, he was pragmatic when he said, “There will always be stories of haunted places but there’s nothing one can do about it as long as it does not interfere with the airport’s functioning.’’ For instance, he adds, stories of ancient and sacred caves being destroyed for the construction of the airport turned out to be old bauxite mines.
The official said the airport and runway is manned 24 hours by the Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) staff and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which looks after the security. “There is staff round the clock and no one has reported any paranormal activity.”
S. Sharma and Suja Ram of the CISF have been posted at Mopa for the last two years and both admit that while they have heard stories of ghosts and poltergeists, they have not encountered any such incidents. “We work night shifts too and patrol the area but have not seen or heard ghosts.’’
It’s a hopeful Kambli, who believes that he and his fellow villagers will one day receive compensation. With a wistful tone, he adds, “We pray to our gods, and our gods will haunt them.”
Vrinda Gopinath is a senior journalist.