Talks with villagers after they calm down: Goa CM on IIT campus row

Panaji, Jan 6 (SocialNews.XYZ) Amid continued protests against the setting up of an IIT campus in the Melaulim village in North Goa, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday said that the process of demarcation of land in the village jurisdiction will continue.

On a day when the local villagers pelted stones at a government team of land surveyors escorted by police personnel, Sawant said the process of dialogue with the residents of Melaulim will continue after the protestors calm down.

"The demarcation is going on. It will continue. The people have to calm down. We have told them we are willing to discuss," Sawant told reporters at the state secretariat.

Earlier on Wednesday, police were forced to baton charge villagers, who were protesting against the Revenue department's demarcation exercise.

The Opposition has slammed the BJP-led coalition government for unleashing armed police officials on the protesting villagers.

Ever since an IIT was allotted to Goa by the Central government in 2014, the institute has been functioning from a temporary campus shared by the Goa Engineering College in the Farmagudi village in South Goa.

Two sites previously identified by the state government, in Canacona and Sanguem sub districts, for setting up a permanent campus for the IIT were dropped in the face of protests from the local residents and after pressure from the Opposition, which had alleged a land scam in shortlisting of sites for the technology institute.

The villagers of Melaulim claim that they are being forcefully evicted from their landholdings by the government and have blamed the hurried land acquisition process adopted by the authorities for securing the land for the IIT campus project.

Source: IANS