PANAJI
After multiple false-starts the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Goa can finally look forward to have the foundation stone of its own independent campus laid this year after nearly eight years of operations and multiple batches of graduates passing out from a campus shared with the Goa Engineering College at Farmagudi.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant asserted on Tuesday that the government has zeroed-in on land and that the foundation stone for the IIT Goa campus will be laid in the current year.
Sawant however declined to say where the campus will come up and also refused to either confirm or deny media reports that the land of the beleaguered Sanjivani Sugar Factory has been picked.
On persistent questioning to reveal the site, Sawant abruptly ended the press conference he had called to hold forth on the implications for Goa of the Union Budget presented to Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last week.
Finalising a site for the campus for IIT Goa which needs a minimum of 10 lakh square metres has dogged the Goa government since 2016-17 facing sustained public protests against all previous sites it picked.
The Bhagwati plateau at Canacona where a film city is now being proposed was the first site zeroed in for the campus during the reign of former chief minister Manohar Parrikar. The plan was however abandoned after locals protested against the move.
The second site picked but abandoned by the government was at Melauli-Sattari where again locals and farmers protested against their land being taken over. A third and fourth site were also similarly abandoned in Sanguem.
