PANAJI
With persistent opposition to the location of IIT Goa campus continuing, discerning voices have begun emerging from influential quarters in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party suggesting relocation of the prestigious institute.
Cabinet minister Michael Lobo joined the chorus on Monday suggesting that the IIT campus project should be relocated either to Farmagudi, where it currently functions, sharing a campus with the Goa Engineering College or to any other location.
Lobo also claimed that the BJP State president Sadanand Shet Tanawde and Rajya Sabha MP Vinay Tendulkar are also in favour of the IIT project being shifted from its present Sattari location.
He said, the IIT project can be built in lesser area by going vertical and claimed that the campuses of the prestigious institute in metros like Delhi and Mumbai have followed the 'build vertical' principle.
Setting up of the IIT campus in Goa has been hanging fire since 2015, when the State was allotted the prestigious technology institute by the Centre.
Two other locations were identified by the State government at Canacona and Sanguem but aborted after stiff opposition in those areas.
Last year, the Pramod Sawant government zeroed in on the current site and 10-lakh square meters (approximately 1000 hectares) owned by the State Revenue Department was handed over to the institute at Guleli, Sattari.
For the last few months, however, locals from Shel-Melaulim have been agitating against the project claiming rights over parts of the site which they say they have been cultivating for decades.
Sawant has engaged with the agitating locals and promised to resolve their issues through compensation for rightful claims, including providing alternate land.
