VIJAYKUMAR DESAI
CUNCOLIM: If on one side the State government is struggling hard to acquire land for setting up the premier Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Goa campus, the National Institute of Technolgy (NIT) campus on the other hand is getting ready at Demani, Cuncolim and might be inaugurated next year.
NIT is an engineering institution in Goa and was established in 2010 and is one of the 31 National Institutes of Technology in India and is recognised as institute of national importance.
The Government of India had granted NIT and IIT the premier Technical and Engineering Institutions to Goa and for years now both are functioning from the Goa Engineering College at Farmagudi, Ponda and were in search of huge tracts of land for setting up permanent campuses.
While NIT managed to get land at Cuncolim, IIT is functioning from the Government Engineering College at Ponda till date.
After stiff resistance from local farmers from Canacona to Sattari, there are moves afoot to set up the IIT at Sanguem taluka despite the opposition from farmers and NGOs.
NIT however was lucky to acquire nearly 4.5 lakh square metres of land at Demani, Cuncolim, close to the National Highway 66. Locals initially objected to the NIT project but it was the former Chief Minister late Manohar Parrikar, who went ahead with land acquisition process and handed over the land to set up the prestigious campus in 2018.
After getting possession of the land, all old structures were demolished for the proposed premier project.
A senior citizen Bhiko Chari residing with his wife and son at Demani was evicted and his house demolished too. Chari now claims that he had planted around 500 fruit bearing trees there but lamented that his family was left homeless and neither was he compensated nor rehabilitated.
The construction work of the building is going on in full swing and if things go on well, the campus building will be inaugurated next year and officials are hopeful that NIT will be shifted to the new spacious complex soon.
NIT Goa campus will offer various undergraduate, post graduate and doctoral degree programmes in engineering and other fields. Research facilities are also provided to students and some seats will be reserved for Goans too.
NIT Goa campus will have academic building, administrative wing, hostel blocks, residential complex for staff, library, research rooms and beside that it is also proposed to set up a school in the campus.
The Goa government and the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) had assured job opportunities for locals in NIT.
Earlier, the local BJP leaders were appealing to the residents not to oppose the NIT as it would provide jobs to locals but the reality is that there are hardly any Goans employed at the construction site today.
Residents say that 99 per cent of the workforce employed here are non Goans that included contract employees, engineers, contractors, transporters and others. Cuncolim MLA Yuri Alemao has demanded jobs for locals in NIT.