CANACONA
While the anti-IIT lobby has termed the proposal as a ploy to hoodwink the residents of Loliem ahead of the panchayat polls, the pro-IIT group feels that it is eventually the government’s decision and they have no reason to force the government to have the IIT only in Loliem.
Reacting to The Goan report, Citizens Committee of Loliem (CCL) Convenor Dennis Fernandes claimed it was a “ploy to hoodwink the Loliem people in the run-up to the panchayat polls.” “The BJP already got a taste of the people’s fury in the assembly elections and it doesn’t want to take any chances as their leaders are edgy in these panchayat polls. Public pressure in Loliem has led Parrikar to propose shifting the IIT elsewhere in the State, but the timing has been mainly to appease the people of Loliem ahead of the panchayat elections. Let the government shift it anywhere else where there is no public opposition,” he said.
On the other hand, ex-sarpanch and present administrator of Loliem-Polem, Bhushan Prabhugaonkar, who had staunchly supported the project, was a bit apprehensive about Parrikar’s reported proposal. “As far as we know, the process of housing the IIT-Goa campus in Loliem is underway, but if the government is thinking about shifting the project somewhere else, let it be so. We are with the government and the decision of our chief minister will be in the better interest of our state,” said Prabhugaonkar. “It is for the government to decide, where to house the IIT in Goa. Since it is a non-polluting institution, we had welcomed it in our village, but if the government thinks otherwise, we are still with the government,” he said further.
“Since we have a new MLA for Canacona, we would have requested our chief minister to decide after considering the new MLA’s views. The present MLA may have new considerations on the development of Canacona,” he added.
Prabhugaonkar along with some Loliem residents had formed a group of like-minded people to mobilise support for the project and to work with the government to bring non-polluting projects to the village. Incidentally, Prabhugaonkar and some of his supporters are seeking re-election in the panchayat polls in Loliem-Pollem.
Canacona MLA Isidore Fernandes had clearly indicated that he had no intention to go against public sentiments on development projects. Regarding the IIT project, Fernandes had stated that he would not force the project in Loliem, but was willing to consider alternate locations elsewhere in the taluka.
