PANAJI: To avoid any controversy ahead of the upcoming assembly elections, the state government is unlikely to take any decision on finalising land for the IIT campus in Goa. The institute is currently functioning from Farmagudi.
Almost nine months ago, the state government took the decision to scrap the IIT-Goa project at Melauli. It then constituted a committee to finalise land to set up the campus, but not much progress has been made to identify land.
A senior official said that the government is not in a hurry to finalise the land for IIT-Goa during the election year, and may wait till the elections are over. “The new government may have to take the decision to finalise the land to set up IIT-Goa,” he said.
Another official said, “Even in Melauli, they should have asked for compensation. This project will lift them to a much higher level of economic development. No one wants the IIT-Goa campus in their locality, and that is a surprise,” he said.
A little over two months ago, CM Pramod Sawant said that the state government would soon announce the place where the IIT-Goa campus would be set up. He had said there isn’t space at Tuem, Pernem, to set up the institute. “The state government is identifying the land for setting up IIT-Goa,” he had said.
In January, Sawant acceded to the demand of Melauli locals to shift the project from their village. “The decision to shift the project was taken keeping in mind people’s sentiments and the request of health minister Vishwajit Rane, who is also the local MLA, and local representatives,” Sawant had said.
The government’s move to cancel the project at Melauli was the culmination of a six-month-long agitation by residents.
The government had earlier identified sites at Canacona and Sanguem for the institute. Power minister and Curchorem MLA Nilesh Cabral had said that his constituents “welcome” the project.
The government may now look for sites at Dharbandora, Sanguem or Quepem to set up the institute.
