SANGUEM
After unsuccessfully trying three different sites in as many talukas, is the site for the proposed IIT Goa at Rivona village in Sanguem finally being accepted by the people?
This may seem to be the case as there was total silence in the village on day one after the formal notification for the acquisition of 10.51 lakh square metres of land was issued by the Government.
The land is situated at Mole ward of Rivona village, a portion of which is under mining and some portions under arecanut and coconut plantations.
While the notification was expected to be met with some opposition from locals who allegedly have their plantation in a portion of the proposed site set to be purchased for the prestigious IIT project, there was a muted response from farmers with no signs of any opposition.
This has given the impression that the proposed site may be finally cleared without any hurdles.
The land proposed to be purchased belongs to a non-Goan family and was reportedly purchased some years back for investment purpose.
In going ahead with the IIT project, the government will have to spend crores of rupees to purchase the land at the present market rate under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Settlement Act 2013, if it has to set up the permanent campus of IIT in Goa.
The question, however, remains is whether the selected land will finally favour the central government, as the land is located in an interior part of the State and quite far from cities.
At a time when the government had proposed the project at Cotarli-Sanguem, a large number of supporters from the BJP camp had marched to Sanguem to show their strength at a meeting called by the farmers to oppose the project at Cotarli-Sanguem.
The meet had witnessed a lot of accusations between the members of the two groups and it had ended abruptly.
Rivona village has a majority of BJP supporters and this will be an added advantage for the government to go ahead with the proposed move to purchase the land for the IIT project in the village.
“Though news of the land proposed to be acquired has reached the village, there has been no opposition to the same as of now and the situation in the village has remained normal,” said a local from Rivona.
The only fear expressed by villagers is about the purported move to widen the road in the village, which they claim, will affect residential houses.
“The exact position and number of houses that would be affected will be known after survey operations,” informed a villager.
While earlier, a couple of farmers were talking of filing tenancy cases, the move now seems to be closed as no such move has come forward from the farmers concerned, informed sources in the village.
