VALPOI: Despite Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant assuring villagers of Shel Melauli that their concerns will be addressed, the villagers remained firm in their opposition to the IIT project proposed in the village.
Sawant on Thursday, on his first visit to the village since the protests started, said that the government will provide land ownership rights to all the villagers and resolve their problems. He also advised the villagers to form a 20-member committee to solve all problems of the locals.
The villagers, however, refused to withdraw their opposition to the proposed IIT project and also did not accept Sawant's assurance to settle their land rights issues. During the interaction with the chief minister, all the locals unanimously stated that they are not interested in having the project in their village.
They stressed that their single point demand is that the State government shift the IIT project from their village.
Sawant first listened to the grievances of villagers and later held a discussion on the IIT project with the villagers at the main temple hall. Hundreds of villagers were present for the meet. The Chief Minister also inspected the proposed IIT campus site.
Sawant told villagers that the government is ready to rehabilitate the people who would be affected by the project and would also regularise the land titles, which has been pending for long.
Further, he stated that the villagers would benefit by the project. “Under no circumstances, we will force the IIT project on the people,” he said.
Locals have been opposing the IIT project which is proposed to be set up across 10 lakh square metres of land in Melauli.