Panaji:
Bowing to public stress, the Goa government on Friday announced that the proposed IIT campus at Shel Melaulim village in Sattari taluka will be shifted to one more element of the state.
The project has met with serious opposition from locals, who staged a substantial-scale protest at the village, insisting that they will not element with their land for the campus.
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant held a meeting with the sarpanches and Zilla Panchayat members from Sattari taluka at his official residence on Thursday evening in presence of state Health Minister and Valpoi MLA Vishwajit Rane.
Speaking to reporters, the chief minister stated the state government has decided to shift the project out of Sattari due to the continual opposition from locals.
“We respect the sentiments of people, which is why we have decided to shift the project out of Sattari,” he stated, adding that the government is but to determine on an option web site.
The project was planned from the viewpoint of improvement, but the state government could not convince locals, he stated.
Earlier this week, Mr Rane had appealed to the chief minister to shift the project thinking about the opposition to it and had urged him to withdraw situations registered against protestors.
At least 12 policemen and various villagers have been injured when each groups clashed in the forest region close to Shel-Melaulim village final week.
Mr Sawant stated that the police will critique the situations filed against protestors.
“There are requests to withdraw the cases filed against protestors. There is a process which needs to be followed. We are reviewing the cases,” he stated.