FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2024
If until last week it was just the people of Shel-Melauli – with a few activists supporting them – that were opposing the Indian Institute of Technology in their village, this week they stand no longer alone, their numbers bolstered by their neighbours. Surrounding villages have walked the roads of Sattari in solidarity with the people of Melauli and decided to stand with their brethren from Shel-Melauli in the latter’s long battle against the IIT in the village land. After the violence of the past week, the villagers of Mauxi, Dhamshe and Khotodem marched to Shel-Melauli and in a show of strength, gave the government 10 days to decide on the project. Their demand is simple, they want that the proposed IIT be shifted from Shel-Melauli.
While there was no immediate response from the government to the 10-day deadline, local MLA Vishwajit Rane who is a minister in the government, tweeted that he would be assessing the ground situation with the people and then discussing the matter with the Chief Minister. This comes as a major move, as Rane had until now shown no inclination to change the decision on the project site. He had been backing it throughout, even until recently. The outcome of the assessment and discussion will be known as and when it occurs, but it is now clear that the government is doing a rethink on the matter, after having asserted as late as last week that the IIT will not be shifted from Shel-Melauli.
It is obvious that the increased support to the shifting of the institute has led the government to take a relook at the issue. When it was just the villagers of Shel-Melauli that had been protesting, the government response to the demands had been lukewarm. When the numbers increased, the government found it to be politically expedient to reassess the ground situation. Any decision taken to shift the IIT will therefore not be because of the environmental destruction that the project will cause, but because of the political fallout in the constituency, that can change the electoral equations. For the people, however, a decision to shift the IIT will be welcomed, whatever the reasons behind it.
The government has ten days to take a decision on this, as that is the deadline given to it by the people of the area who have now come together in solidarity with the villagers of Shel-Melauli. The IIT issue has dragged on for months, when it could have been avoided and ended quite quickly, had the government been more responsive. There is no requirement to keep it hanging any longer and if the government intends to meet the demands of the people, the sooner it does so the better it will be for all concerned. Not only will it end the agitation, but the government can then focus on other pressing matters without getting sidetracked by the IIT issue.
However, any decision on shifting the IIT from Shel-Melauli has to be accompanied by the offer of an alternative parcel of land to the IIT. The government cannot keep that decision, of alternative land for the IIT, pending. The institute is already functioning and it has been waiting for land for too long already. The government is in possession of vacant land in several places that can be utilised for the IIT. Just a few weeks ago, the Sanguem MLA had accused the government of hastily shifting the IIT from the proposed site in his constituency to Sattari. If the people of Sanguem are ready to welcome the IIT, it may be relocated there, thus avoiding further delay in the project. Or another area can be identified.
