Team Herald
PANJIM: The Opposition Congress on Monday demanded to know whether Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will release a white paper on benefits to Goa and Goans from national or private educational institutions established in the State before handing over two lakh square metres of land at Tivim, Bardez to M/s World Peace University, Maharashtra.
“It is shocking that local MLA and Minister Nilkant Halarnkar is claiming that he is not aware of the said project,” Amarnath Panjikar said.
Reacting to the public notice issued by the Tivim village panchayat informing villagers to file objections and suggestions pertaining to allotment of Comunidade land for IPB approved project, Congress media cell chairman Amarnath Panjikar said that another land ghotala (scam) was in the making and appealed to the people to lodge strong objection against the said allotment.
M/s World Peace University, Maharashtra Academy of Engineering and Educational Research's MIT Group of Institutions has requested approval from Goa Investment Promotion and Facilitation Board (Goa-IPB) to set up a State Private University offering wide range of courses on engineering, marine engineering, medical sciences, management studies, arts, journalism, public policy etc at Tivim, he stated. The Goa-IPB has decided to grant in- principle approval for the purpose of setting up a private university, he said.
Panjikar demanded that the government must make public the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of any project to which huge land is allotted by the government and the said DPR should clearly mention of benefits to Goans. It is loud and clear that all IPB projects have turned out to be failures with respect to investment and employment opportunities, he said.
The Congress leader reiterated his demand that the Chief Minister must come clean on employment opportunities, jobs and other educational benefits for Goans from national educational institutions.