SANGUEM: “If the people of Sanguem continue to oppose the IIT project, then I will welcome it with open arms in Shiroda,” said WRD Minister Subhash Shirodkar while addressing a gathering at Molcornem.
The minister claimed that the State is in need of projects like the IIT which will provide employment to atleast around 500 people and will also benefit 30 students from Goa to study at the elite institution.
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The IIT agitators at Sanguem wholeheartedly welcomed the statement made by the minister and requested him to shift the project to his constituency at the earliest.
Joseph Fernandes of the Sanguem Bachao Samiti alongwith other farmers welcomed the minister’s statement and urged him to expedite the process of shifting the project to Shiroda without wasting any time.
The farmers who are on a sit-in agitation against the IIT project at Dando, while hailing Shirodkar’s decision criticised the local MLA Subhash Phal Dessai for allegedly misguiding the higher authorities including the Chief Minister on the matter.
“Phal Dessai should stop using the government machinery to harass the agitating farmers and not take them for granted,” said Santano Rodrigues and added that they would not permit the IIT project to come up at Cotarli village at any cost.
Milton Fernandes reiterated that the farmers will not bow down to the pressure tactics adopted by the government and in no way part with their pristine ancestral farmland in Sanguem for the IIT.
Incidentally, the sit-in agitation resorted by the farmers at Dando completed 60 days on Thursday.
