With the government’s recent announcement identifying land in Codar for IIT-Goa’s permanent campus, voices of opposition to the project there have begun to emerge, citing the usual reasons — potential loss of livelihoods, environmental impact, and threats to local wildlife. Reporters of 'The Goan' visited the site and nearby habitations, speaking with residents likely to be affected. With the title of the Codar Comunidade clear and opposition limited both in scale and substance, light is seemingly shining at the end of the tunnel in the prolonged saga over IIT-Goa’s permanent campus
The site identified by the State government to set up a permanent campus of the Indian Institute of Technology Goa on comunidade land at Codar in Ponda taluka.
With the State government zeroing in on a massive parcel of 14-odd lakh square metres of land belonging to the Comunidade of Codar in Ponda Taluka, the prestigious technology institute is staring at the brightest of hopes to finally get a site to get on with the construction of its campus.
As you drive past the Opa Water Works in Khandepar along a narrow six-metre road which leads to a massive expanse of land where the Agriculture Department's 'Codar Farm' is located, you are greeted with the cries of peacocks and the cooing of peahens. The land now identified by the government to be handed over to IIT-Goa lies to the east of this road and is part of an expanse of nearly 20 lakh square metres of land belonging to the Codar Comunidade.
History of opposition, but this time it's feeble
Opposition from locals whenever the State government has identified land to be handed over to IIT-Goa for its permanent campus dates back to 2016-17 when the Bhagwati Plateau was zeroed in on. With the election approaching in less than a year in 2017, the then State government headed by Laxmikant Parsekar dropped the plan.
The quest for suitable land to locate the permanent campus of IIT-Goa took a similar trajectory on two other occasions thereafter: at Shell-Melaulim in Sattari Taluka, where the agitation launched by locals swelled with people from across the State and even turned violent with clashes between the agitators and police. Again, with elections coming up in a year in 2022, the then Pramod Sawant-led BJP government junked this proposal too.
More recently, a proposal to locate the campus on another expanse of land in Cotarli-Sanguem was also abandoned by the current Sawant government, partly due to local opposition and more importantly due to the lack of clarity about its ownership and title documents.
Two more sites – Rivona-Sanguem and Dharbandora – were also dropped at the initial stages due to uncertainty of titles and the envisaged legal complications that the government would face in the land acquisition process.
The 14-odd lakh square metres now identified in Codar, which adjoins Bethora village, does not face such legal and technical difficulties. It is wholly owned by the Codar Comunidade and, more importantly, has no tenants, according to one member of the comunidade.
Despite the clarity in title, news that the Codar site has been picked by the government for the IIT-Goa campus has attracted some opposition from nearby residents, notably a handful of villagers from Bethora, which adjoins Codar.
They held a meeting earlier this week where they slammed the government for lack of consultation with them, besides raising objections such as the project affecting their "fertile lands" and the threat it will pose to biodiversity and wildlife.
At Kasamshell, a hamlet of about 40 houses mostly belonging to people from the Scheduled Tribe community, almost everyone we met was opposed to the project. It is located at the foot of the Codar hills, where the IIT campus is being proposed.
There, a lady named Nital told us that her and other villagers’ agricultural livelihoods will be affected if the IIT campus comes up on the hills above their village.
"They will bore wells there, affecting the springs that help us cultivate here. Also, wildlife will be disturbed and the animals will come down destroying our cultivation," said Nital, who recently won an award and was designated a 'lakhpathi didi' by the government.
A group of other residents of the village, where they cultivate vegetables, flowers and care for betelnut orchards (kulagar), expressed similar concerns.
"There are an estimated 150-200 bisons up on those hills. There are also bibte vaag (leopards) and other animals," said Sushant Salelkar, who claims to be the third-generation cultivator living in the village.
Clarity of title
The land has a clear title with the Comunidade of Codar as its owner and, according to one member of the body, the site also has zero human habitation.
"There may be a few dozen houses along the periphery, but there are some who are cultivating vegetables and fruits in some parcels of the comunidade's land without any authorisation or paperwork," said one of the comunidade's shareholders who lives in Ponda but did not wish to be named.
Codar Comunidade member Prashant Gaonkar, a banker, meanwhile, told 'The Goan' that the proposal to locate the IIT campus on their land is still in the infancy stage. He said the comunidade has not given any approvals that the government will need from it for the proposal.
“The managing committee has only conveyed to the government that the land is available with the comunidade," Gaonkar said, adding that the whole process will require the managing committee's approval, followed by a resolution ratifying the decision passed by the general body.
CM's hint at a new site
At the 6th convocation ceremony of the Indian Institute of Technology Goa (IIT-Goa), held recently, Chief Minister Sawant reaffirmed the State government's commitment to securing land for the institute’s permanent campus "soon".
In his address at this convocation, Sawant acknowledged that while IIT-Goa continues to operate from its transit campus shared with the Goa Engineering College at Farmagudi, steps were being taken toward handing over the required land to the institute.
"I want to assure everyone that the Government of Goa is fully committed to resolving the land allocation issue swiftly, so that IIT-Goa receives the world-class campus it rightfully deserves," he said.
Weeks later, Sawant's government announced in August that IIT-Goa’s permanent campus will be located on a 14-lakh square metres expanse of land of the Comunidade of Codar.
The government has since officially communicated the identification of the Codar site to the Union Ministry of Education, which is expected to depute a team to inspect and verify its suitability.
At another level, to take over the land, the Administrator of Comunidades (Central Zone) has initiated the process by issuing a public notice in which the land under survey number 63/2 has been sought by the government on a perpetual lease (aforamento) basis from the Comunidade of Codar. The notice also allows a 30-day period during which members of the public can file their objections.
There is, however, at least one member of the comunidade's managing committee – Vishram Gaonkar, who is vice-president – objecting to the proposal.
Gaonkar is said to have led those opposing the project at a discussion with WRD Minister Subhash Shirodkar, who is the MLA of Shiroda constituency where the site is located. He argues that the comunidade has already parted with 10 lakh square metres of land for the agricultural farm, and it is not fair that more land is being sought from the same comunidade.
Govt stands ground
Taking note of the voices in opposition to the IIT campus being located at Codar, Sawant has defended his government's decision, calling it a project of "national importance" and urging citizens not to oppose it.
He argued that a State with 100% literacy should support the project as it would bring long-term educational and economic benefits, and suspected that the opposition is being instigated.
Sawant's reaction to the opposition indicates a steely resolve to end the uncertainty over the government's responsibility to hand over land for the IIT campus. But it will take more than resolve and a bucketful of political will to see the decision through the process, reach its logical conclusion, and eventually grant the prestigious technology institute the land it needs to build its campus.
