Panaji: Following protests from the residents of Melaulim in Sattari, Goa government decided to relocate the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) campus to some other place. Chief Minister Pramod Sawant announced on Monday that the government will soon set up a committee to identify a new site for setting up of a campus.
“We have decided to relocate the IIT from Melaulim in Sattari. However, we have not decided where to shift it yet. The government may form a four to five-member committee comprising of educationists, IIT officials and others for verification (of the site). We do not want such a problem again,” Sawant was quoted as saying by news agency IANS.
Goa was allotted an IIT in 2014. Since then, the IIT has been functioning from a temporary campus shared by the Goa Engineering College in Farmagudi village, in South Goa.
The BJP-led coalition government last year had finalised Melaulim in North Goa, as the site for the campus.
However, residents of Melaulim protested against the proposed IIT campus, accusing the Goa government of trying to displace them from their ancestral land tracts, IANS reported.
Sawant now insists that despite the setback, the Goa government was firm on setting up an IIT in Goa.
“The government is serious about it. The committee will examine location options and the government will then take a final decision after giving it consideration,” Goa CM said.
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