They have told the Chief Minister that their one-point demand is that the institute be shifted to any place other than their village. The assurances of Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant that their issues will be addressed, and that those losing land will be rehabilitated and that title deeds will be given to everyone of the residents were all rejected by the villagers, a clear indication that nothing will change the minds of the people that have not been made up.
This was Chief Minister Sawant’s first visit to the village since the agitation began and it didn’t go well for him as he was unable to convince the residents of the Melauli of the benefits of having an institute as prestigious as an IIT in their village. There are hundreds of people from the area who came to interact with the Chief Minister during his visit. Besides the meeting with the people, he also visited the site of the proposed institute, but nothing he said or promised managed to sway the people from their stand. They also refused to withdraw their agitation which has now been ongoing for months.
The government is facing a strong and united group of villagers who have unwaveringly stood by their demand. It is not the IIT that the people of Melauli are opposing but the site on which it is to be set up. To recap, this is a forest area, the natural habitat of various species and as pointed out by the villagers, has been declared a biodiversity hotspot by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Does a land area such as this need to be cleared for an institute? That is the question that needs to be asked and answered so that the State comes to an informed decision on the matter.
The IIT is already functioning from the Goa Engineering College campus in Farmagudi. What it is looking for is its own land. A few months ago, the opposition Congress had suggested that the government drop Melauli as the site for the institute and have the IIT in one of the areas that had been earlier earmarked for the Special Economic Zones (SEZ). Herald had backed the suggestion, and to this now adds that there are various other sites that can be considered for the IIT and the government does not need to be so adamant on having the IIT in that one area. Melauli is the third site for the IIT that had been identified, after sites at Canacona and Sanguem were turned down. Incidentally, the issue even took a political turn as the dropping of the Sanguem site was in the news again and even led to an Independent MLA withdrawing support to the government.
The conflict between the people and the government on this has lengthened which does not augur well for future investments of any kind. The government has often spoken of an education hub, and such a disagreement on the land for the IIT would deter other institutes from setting up in Goa, especially since earlier this year the government opened the State for private universities to establish. The State cannot afford to lose an IIT because of a land issue. The matter has to be treated in a very different manner, where the government displays maturity and finds a solution to the land issue before the State suffers from being tagged as one that is constantly in conflict over projects.
