Land for NIT at Cuncolim a done deal

the goan I networkrPANAJIrrThe certificate of transfer of land was handed over by State Secretary for Education Ranbir Singh to NIT-Goa Director Udaykumar Yaragatti and NIT-Goa Director Designate Gopal Mugareya. A plot of land admeasuring 4,56,767 square metres has been provided and a state-of-the-art campus is expected to come up within the next three years. rAddressing the gathering, NIT-Goa Director Designate Gopal Mugareya said, “I am joining as NIT Goa Director by choice because I want to build this institution. Goa has an advantage as it is well-connected. There are more than 150 flights and more than 12 trains. Due to this, we can attract good students. I don’t want to go for a conventional NIT which will have all the branches and instead have only circuit branches where the students will join by choice. We have more than 20 NRI students who can join. Currently our intake in NIT Goa is 140 per year. If it is increased four-fold upto 700 students per year, nearly 400 students of Goa will get benefit out of it for which I seek the help of Education Secretary and DTE.” rMugareya also sought assistance from the State Government for providing accommodation to girl students of NIT-Goa. r“We have 90 girl students who are currently studying in NIT. They need hostel facilities. The government could look at handing over some buildings and we can take care of the renovation”, he said. rSpeaking on the occasion, Director of Technical Education Vivek Kamat said, “There were two issues as far as NIT Goa was concerned -- one was land and another was the 50 per cent home state quota. We were all trying for some dedicated quota for Goa. Thanks to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar that both these issues have been sorted.”