Finally, six years after having established itself in Goa, and with one batch of students already having graduated and another on the verge of graduation, the National Institute of Technology, Goa, has been allotted land for a campus of its own. This is just the first step in a long process. The land will now have to be handed over to the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and only then will construction begin on the land and it will be 2018, before the institute can open the doors of its own campus to students. Until then NIT, a much sought after institute will have to continue from the Goa Engineering campus in Farmagudi from where it has been functioning since 2010, where the facilities fall short of what an institute of the nature of the NIT requires.
The government now has to get on the job of acquiring land for the Indian Institute of Technology. The Union Ministry of Human Resources is awaiting the government’s response on this matter to take forward the proposal to start an IIT in Goa. Land for the IIT has already been indentified at Canacona and financial provisions for the payments have been made. What is required is expediting the process that has already been delayed. An area of land at Dhargal, Pernem, that had been identified by the State, had been turned down about a year ago by MHRD as the land did not meet the required minimum area. For an IIT, the MHRD wants a minimum of 400 acres and what the State government offered at that time was 225 acres, which was just a little more than half the requirement.
It tells a lot about a government’s priorities when it takes a top institute, especially one that has been termed as of ‘national importance’ as the NIT has been, six years to get land, and a proposed IIT to get land, but a brewery can get land in a coconut grove within no time.
Why this miserliness with land where educational institutions are concerned? A year ago the government had announced its intention to promote Goa as an educational hub. Apart from that statement, there appears to have been no other progress made to translate the intention into action. The tardiness in the land acquisition process for the IIT is evidence that the government is not serious about an education hub, though it would perhaps be a good option for Goa. Architect Charles Correa, a few months before he died, had suggested that Goa look at developing education hubs as an alternative to the tourism industry that remains rather fickle.
Through these columns, Herald had suggested that the government keep in mind future requirements of an education hub and select a piece of land that could serve not just as a site for an IIT but also include other institutions. Goa has to look at the future and plan accordingly. If it’s an education hub that the State wants, land has to be identified and plans made accordingly. Goa is already in the list of States where the Centre proposes to set up the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), for which 200 acres will be required. The State needs to plan for this institution too.
Educational institutions such as an IIT, NIT, AIIMS, which are ranked very high for their excellence in teaching and the qualified professionals they produce, can only be assets to the State. They need to be promoted, pampered even, as other States would be only too glad to welcome them if Goa fails to make the land they require available. Goa can’t afford to slip up on that and so has to begin on identifying the land right now. Any delay could cost the State an institution of excellence and that would slow down Goa’s growth.
