In a major setback for the government’s proposed plans of constructing the IIT Goa campus at Melaulim village, the village panchayat today morning had an important meeting. During the meeting, the Melaulim Village Panchayat has decided to reject the No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the IIT Goa compound wall to be constructed.
A file was earlier sent to the village panchayat seeking permission to construct a compound wall around the area of the IIT.
However, after today’s meeting, the village panchayat has decided to reject the permission, and the file has been sent back to the state government.
The Melaulim village has been the epicenter of a wide-spread village protest against the proposed IIT-Goa campus. The villagers have demanded that the state government scrap the project from the village and find another site for the project.
The government however, on the other hand, has been adamant to go ahead with the project at this site, assuring the people of proper land compensation to the villagers who have to give up their lands.
The villagers have although rejected this proposal claiming that their entire livelihoods depend on these lands. Furthermore, they have even asked the state government to speed up the process of giving the lands into their names, which right now isn’t.
Despite a meet with the Chief Minister in Panaji, the villagers have been firm stating that they will continue to oppose the proposed IIT project. Recently, they even sent back authorities that had come to mark the demarcation of the land in the village.
The CM has asked for a five-member committee to go ahead with further discussions claiming that he cannot have meetings with over 500 people.
The villagers have been sitting on the road since last week, not allowing any progress of the proposed project. And with the village panchayat’s rejection of the NOC, the movement only amplifies, as people since long have been asking the local body to stand by their side.
The future course of action from the government after the NOC has been rejected however is still not yet known.
