PANAJI
Five months after dropping the Rivona site following roadblock in the land acquisition process, the State government is yet to zero upon any suitable land parcel to set up a permanent campus of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Goa.
Highly placed sources confirmed that over the years, government had identified land sites right from Canacona to Sattari to Sanguem -- which the government was forced to drop following public protest or land issue or rejection by the Union Education Ministry -- it has now become difficult to identify and finalize the site.
Set up in July 2016, IIT Goa campus is temporarily housed in Goa Engineering College at Farmagudi and has been looking for a permanent campus since then.
As per the criteria set by the Union Ministry for Education, around 12 lakh sq mts land is necessary to set up an IIT campus.
Despite the Selection Committee of the Union Education Ministry granting its nod to the 10.5 lakh sq mtrs of land at Rivona in Sanguem taluka to set up IIT campus, the government failed to pursue it due to lack of documentation.
Sources said that the land under four survey numbers measuring 10,49,118 sq mts at Malewada-Rivona was identified by the government and the Revenue department was directed to ascertain and verify the title documents.
“However, there were some issues as far as title documents were concerned. In the absence of documents or lack of mismatch in the documentation, the land acquisition process hit the roadblock,” sources said adding ‘the government is on war-footing trying to locate a new site’.
The government had first identified a site in Canacona taluka but was dropped due to opposition. The proposal was later shifted to Melauli, Sattari, where locals organised a sustained protest against it. The government was forced to drop the site, citing “people’s sentiments.
The government then considered shifting the project to Cotarli in Sanguem but then the site was rejected by the Ministry amid public outcry.
