PANJIM: The State government on Tuesday constituted a committee to identify land to set up a permanent campus for the proposed IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) project in the State.
The committee consists of both District Magistrates, Secretary (Revenue), Secretary (Education), Director of Technical Education and Director of Settlement and Land Records.
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The committee will identify suitable sites for the institute and submit its report to the government.
In January this year, the government scrapped the proposed IIT project at Shel-Melaulim in Sattari taluka following stiff opposition by the locals.
Earlier, two sites identified by the government in Canacona and Sanguem talukas to set up the proposed IIT project had also been dropped.
The government had transferred around 10 lakh square metres of land at Melaulim to construct the permanent campus for IIT Goa. The villagers, however, vehemently opposed the project for almost six months and even stopped government officials/surveyors from demarcating the land.
The protest took a violent turn and the police lathicharged the villagers for trying to stop the demarcation of land in January.
As the protests against the project grew, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane appealed to the Chief Minister to shift the project out of Melaulim, taking into consideration the sentiments of the people of Sattari and local representatives.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant later announced scrapping of the project at Melaulim and shifting it to another location.
Currently, the IIT Goa is functioning from the Goa Engineering College, Farmagudi campus as a temporary measure.
