PANAJI
With protests flaring over the proposed permanent campus of IIT Goa at Farmagudi, the government has moved quickly to assure that the revered Katamgal Dada shrine will not be disturbed.
On Tuesday, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and Power Minister Sudin Dhavalikar separately asserted that the shrine site will remain protected.
Dhavalikar said the land earmarked for the IIT project had been acquired decades ago during the expansion of the Goa Engineering College. He maintained that the Katamgal Dada site would not be touched.
Sawant also strongly defended the project, warning that rejecting the campus over the shrine issue would be a setback for Goa.
He said the government respects cultural and religious sentiments but must also pursue educational infrastructure for the benefit of students and future generations.
“I fail to understand the opposition to establishing an IIT in the State,” he remarked.
The assurances came after Sunday’s protest, when a large group of locals gathered near the shrine, raised slogans against the project and performed traditional garane before the deity.
Protesters claimed the land has been revered for generations and warned that any obstruction would not bode well for the village. Gurudas Naik, a local resident, said the deity is believed to patrol the plateau at night.
The protest erupted days after the Union Education Ministry approved the Farmagudi site and the Goa Cabinet cleared the transfer of land for the project. IIT Goa has been functioning from temporary facilities at the GEC campus for the past eight years.
The Farmagudi site is the latest in a decade‑long search for a permanent campus, with earlier proposals at Loliem, Melaulim, Cotarli, Keri and Codar abandoned following public opposition.
The government’s assurances now aim to calm tensions and keep the project on track, though resistance from locals signals that the controversy is far from over.
